EarlyWord

In 2014 few Americans knew Italian author Elena Ferrante’s name, let alone the name of her English-language translator Ann Goldstein.

In a profile yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reports that Goldstein, who by day is chief of the New Yorker magazine’s copy department, often draws packed audiences at events where she stands in for the author, who does not make appearances.

Goldstein tells the WSJ that she became attracted to writing translations in typical copy editor fashion, because it focused her attention. “I liked it as a way of reading,” she said, “If you have to copy down every word of something, you become very close to it.”

Describing her take on translation, Goldstein says,

“Sometimes, I think, it’s puzzle-solving. I want to make good English sentences but without losing the particular voice of the Italian writer. I can’t explain how that happens. I think it has to do with staying pretty close to the original.”

“Her name on a book now is gold,” says Robert Weil, editor in chief of Norton’s Liveright imprint (she translated the imprint’s enormous Complete Works of Primo Levi). Her upcoming projects include Jhumpa Lahiri’s new memoir In Other Words (PRH/Knopf; BOT), which was composed in Italian when Lahiri moved to Italy and decided to write in that language, and Frantumaglia: Bits and Pieces of Uncertain Origin (Europa Editions) Ferrante’s upcoming collection of interviews, letters, and other writing.

Her fame will only grow if circulation is any measure. Libraries still have active holds queues on all four of Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, (Europa Editions).

Goldstein discusses them in this New Yorker “Out Loud” podcast.

Called one of the “hottest titles” heading to this week’s Sundance Film Festival, rights to The Fundamentals of Caring may be nabbed by Netflix, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with theatrical rights still up for grabs (which can be tricky, since the major theatre chains refuse to book films that will be streamed simultaneously).

Based on the novel by Jonathan Evison, the movie title is shortened from the book’s, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving (Workman/Algonquin, 2012).

Starring Paul Rudd with Selena Gomez and Craig Roberts, the movie will be featured as the Closing Night Film.

The movie’s female star, Selena Gomez, has a separate Netflix deal in the works. She is set to executive produce a series based on Jay Asher’s 2007 YA novel, TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY (Penguin/RazorBill).

As the result of an embargo, preventing pre-pub reviews, many libraries are facing high demand on few, if any, copies of a new book on right wing money and politics, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right (PRH/Doubleday; BOT).

Author and journalist Jane Mayer appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday and as a result the book is now #4 on Amazon’s sales ranking and holds are skyrocketing.

Mayer shares some horrifying stories about the Koch’s, the bad blood in the family, and the secret way they (and other wealthy conservative families) give money to shape politics.

Calling them the political equivalent of secret tax shelter banks in the Cayman Islands, she explains how the Koch’s and others have undertaken a concerted campaign to shape the political environment by financing think tanks to formulate ideas, bankrolling advocacy groups to support those ideas, and pressuring politicians to create laws to enact them – all constructed in a way to hide the identity of those funding the process.

PBS’s Newshour is running a series of reports on autism this week, “Understanding Autism.”

The first episode aired last night and highlighted a book we’ve covered before, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman (Penguin/Avery; Blackstone Audio; OverDrive Sample).

As a result, it rose back up Amazon’s sales rankings to #112.

Tonight, Newshour will feature a just-released title, In A Different Key: The Story of Autism (PRH/Crown; BOT; OverDrive Sample).

It was featured yesterday on NPR’s All Things Considered and has risen to #169 on Amazon’s rankings.

Join us for the next YA Galley Chat on Feb. 16, 5 to 6 p.m. (4:30 for virtual cocktails).

Set to write a memoir about her transformation from Bruce to Caitlyn, Jenner announced her co-author will be Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Buzz Bissinger.

Bissinger wrote the book Friday Night Lights, which became both a movie and a TV series.

The memoir is set to be published by Hachette/Grand Central, tentatively in spring of 2017. The New York Times reported the story, earlier today followed by People magazine and several other sources.

Jenner tweeted:

Thrilled to reunite with my friend Buzz Bissinger. Honored that he’s telling my full story. https://t.co/SlNzNau1BF pic.twitter.com/nA59jIl3J6

— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) January 19, 2016

The surprise winner of two Golden Globes last week, for Best TV Comedy or Musical as well as for Best Actor in the same category, was Amazon’s series, Mozart in the Jungle. Amazon streamed both seasons of the series for free over the weekend, bringing new viewers (and taking the opportunity to offer special discounted subscriptions to Amazon Prime).

Even those familiar with the series may not realize that it is based on the 2005 memoir of the same title by oboist Blair Tindal detailing the highs and lows of her adventures in New York’s classical music world. Subtitled Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music it was a gossiped-about book among fellow musicians. Interviewing the author at the time, Entertainment Weekly, referred to it as a “hoity-toity version of VH1’s Behind the Music.” As the NYT writes this week, that fascination has been revived by the show.

With all this attention, expect to hear soon that Mozart has been renewed for a third season.

Season One trailer:

Season Two trailer:

With book adaptations dominating this year’s Oscar nominations, thoughts are turning to the most anticipated adaptations of 2016 and it looks like it will be another banner year.

Leading the list in best sellers is The Girl on the Train, marking its one-year anniversary on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list this week. At #2, it’s likely to still be on the list when the film arrives on Oct 7th. In animated kids movies, Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The BFG is expected to be a big draw and in literary titles, focus is on Oscar-winng Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, based on Ben Fountain’s 2012 National Book Award Finalist.

But one title is missing. The Light Between Oceans, the long-running best seller by M.L. Stedman. Adapted by Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance, starring hot celebrity couple Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, the film is complete, with the first stills released last month, but there’s still no word on when it will arrive in theaters.

There is hope. IndieWire notes in the article,  “The 20 Movies That Need to Be Released in 2016,” that rumors of a Cannes 2016 debut in May, signal it will arrive on screens “before the end of the year, most likely in the thick of awards season.”

For other adaptations in the works, check our Upcoming Adaptations list. For tie-ins, Upcoming — Tie-ins

The Slate Audio Book Club is back, this time discussing Jonathan Franzen’s Purity (Macmillan/FSG; Macmillan Audio; OverDrive Sample).

Calling it a big, sweeping, Dickensian novel, the Slate critics, Meghan O’Rourke, Parul Sehgal, and Katy Waldman, jump into a conversation about the core of the novel and its message.

While the central character, a woman named Pip, should serve as the novel’s heart, all the participants agree that it is the mothers in the story that power its interest, saying that those characters offer a creepy sensibility that provides “a range of tones from horror to simmer” and become the most fascinating part of the story.

The group also discusses the portrayal of women and the ways the men operate in the novel, accusing  Franzen of failing the Bechdel;Wallace test.

Each ends up recommending the novel, despite clear flaws, saying they admire Franzen’s ambition and his ability to identify questions readers need to address. However, they say that this is not the book to start reading Franzen – for that they suggest The Corrections.

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Next month the book club will explore Lucia Berlin’s short-story collection A Manual for Cleaning Women, which was featured on a number of the year-end best books lists.

A children’s picture book that features George Washington’s enslaved cook has been withdrawn from sale by the publisher Scholastic, just weeks after it hit shelves.

Bowing to widespread pressure, Scholastic has ceased distribution of A Birthday Cake for George Washington, written by Ramin Ganeshram and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, saying in a press release, “We do not believe this title meets the standards of appropriate presentation of information to younger children, despite the positive intentions and beliefs of the author, editor, and illustrator.”

At first Scholastic defended the book. VP and executive editor, Andrea Davis Pinkney posted an explanation on the company’s website. The book’s author also posted a  defense on the Children’s Book Council site.

Published just a few weeks ago on Jan 5., the book is facing similar charges to those leveled at another recently published picture book that also features slaves smiling while they create a treat for the household’s masters,  A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat written by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Sophie Blackall (RH/Schwartz & Wade).

SLJ Book Review Editor Kiera Parrott, who wrote a starred review of that book, reversing her position after considering the complaints against it, panned A Birthday Cake for George Washington, calling it “A troubling depiction of American slavery … A highly problematic work; not recommended.”

Many libraries seem to have taken note. A search of World Cat reveals few holdings.

The controversy is getting wide coverage with pieces in The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, and Forbes. The story is even making UK news with the BBC reporting on it as well.

Poised to  break onto the bestseller lists is Paul Kalanithi’s memoir, When Breath Becomes Air, (PRH/Random House; BOT; OverDrive Sample).

It begins at the moment the author, a neurosurgeon finally completing over a decade of training, learns that his life, put on hold for so long, might very well end decades sooner than anyone would expect.

On the NYT’s Book Review podcast, Greg Cowles, who oversees the bestseller lists, hints that it is likely to hit the list next week and notes that it has been getting a lot of attention.

Indeed it has.

Janet Maslin, reviewing it for the daily NYT calls it “unmissable” and says:

“Dr. Kalanithi, who died at 37, went on to write a great, indelible book … To paraphrase Abraham Verghese’s introduction, to read this book is to feel that Dr. Kalanithi still lives, with enormous power to influence the lives of others even though he is gone … I guarantee that finishing this book and then forgetting about it is simply not an option.”

Entertainment Weekly gives it a A-, remarking that its “unsentimental approach” gives the book its power:

“There’s no redemption here. Kalanithi died before he finished the book, leaving his wife Lucy to write a beautiful but painful epilogue. In the few hundred pages he completed, he chronicles his transition from doctor to patient with an acute clinical eye … Its only fault is that the book, like his life, ends much too early.”

The Washington Post calls it “an emotional investment well worth making” and as we reported earlier, it is an Indie Next pick for January as well. It is also an Amazon Best Book for January, where it is currently holds the #4 spot as the site’s bestselling book list.

Libraries bought it conservatively and as a result holds lists are skyrocketing past a 3:1 ratio with more than one library we checked adding more copies.

Below is a video, posted in The Washington Post, featuring Dr. Kalanithi reflecting on his prognosis (Note: if the video is unavailable below, link to it here, or read Kalanithi’s reflections here).

There’s just one title arriving with a a significant number of holds next week Blue, Danielle Steel, (PRH/Delacorte; RH Large Print; Brilliance audio). Fans are also anticipating new titles by Gregg Hurwitz (one of the peer picks, below) and Bernard Cornwall’s ninth installment in the Saxon Tales, Warriors of the Storm (HarperCollins/Harper).

The titles covered here, and several other notable titles arriving next week, are listed with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet, EarlyWord New Title Radar, Week of Jan. 18, 2016

Media Magnets

Before I Forget,  B. Smith and Dan Gasby with Michael Shnayerson, (PRH/Harmony)

Say it isn’t so. The vibrant B. Smith has early-onset Alzheimer’s at 64. She writes this poignantly titled memoir with her husband Dan Gasby and Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Shnayerson. An excerpt is featured in the new issue of People Magazine and B. and Dan are scheduled for an interview on NBC’s Today Show

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right,  Jane Mayer. (PRH/Doubleday; RH Large Print; RH Audio) — Embargoed

The New York Times broke the news about this embargoed title in the story, ‘Father of Koch Brothers Helped Build Nazi Oil Refinery, Book Says‘ and in a review. A New Yorker writer, the author will also publish a story on the Koch brothers in the magazine next week. In addition, she is scheduled for NPR’s Fresh Air as well as several TV shows.

Peer Picks

The #1 Indie Next January pick comes out this week, The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, Katarina Bivald (Sourcebooks Landmark).

It is also a January LibraryReads choice. Barbara Clark-Greene of Groton Public Library, Groton, CT says.

“Sara arrives in the small town of Broken Wheel to visit her pen pal Amy, only to discover Amy has just died. The tale of how she brings the love of books and reading that she shared with Amy to the residents of Broken Wheel is just a lovely read. Any book lover will enjoy Sara’s story and that of the friends she makes in Broken Wheel. If ever a town needed a bookstore, it is Broken Wheel; the healing power of books and reading is made evident by this heartwarming book.”

The Things We Keep, Sally Hepworth (Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press; Macmillan Audio; OverDrive Sample) is another double pick out this week.

An IndieNext and a LibraryReads pick, Elizabeth Eastin of the Rogers Memorial Library, Southampton, NY says:

“A sweet story of love and loss set in a residential care facility. Two of its youngest residents, a man and a woman both diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, fall in love. Their story is intertwined with the stories of other residents and employees at the facility, including a recently widowed cook and her seven-year-old daughter. A moving and improbably uplifting tale.”

Two additional January LibraryReads picks also hit the shelves this week.

Even Dogs in the Wild, Ian Rankin (Hachette/Little, Brown and Company; OverDrive Sample)

“Readers rejoice!” says Janet Lockhart of Wake County Public Libraries, Raleigh, NC, “John Rebus has come out of retirement. Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox are working an important case and ask for his help. Then an attempt is made on the life of his longtime nemesis, Big Ger Cafferty. Are the cases connected? A top notch entry in a beloved series.”

The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain, Bill Bryson (PRH/Doubleday; BOT)

“A slightly more curmudgeonly Bill Bryson recreates his beloved formula of travel writing and social commentary. This book is a lovely reminder of all the amazing natural beauty and historically significant sites found in the United Kingdom. Even though Bryson extols the virtues of his adopted homeland, he never lets up on the eccentricities and stupidity he encounters. Bryson’s still laugh-out loud funny and this book won’t disappoint.” – Susannah Connor, Pima County Public Library, Tucson, AZ

Two additional February IndieNext picks release as well.

Orphan X, Gregg Hurwitz (Macmillan/Minotaur Books; Brilliance Audio; OverDrive Sample)

“The U.S. government secretly trained a group of orphaned children to be lethal assassins when they grew up. Evan, one of these children and now a grown man, has left the program and disappeared, resurfacing only to help those in desperate need. It is through this work that one of his enemies has found him, but which enemy — the government, one of his fellow orphans, or a relative of one of the many bad guys he has gotten rid of? Filled with lots of twists and turns and neat techno gadgets, Orphan X takes you on a roller coaster ride that will leave you breathless and waiting for the next installment of the Nowhere Man.” —Nancy McFarlane, Fiction Addiction, Greenville, SC

The Portable Veblen, Elizabeth Mckenzie (Penguin Press).

“This story of an engaged couple trying to navigate crazy family dynamics, betrayal, and professional dilemmas on their way to getting married is one of the funniest, most unique novels I’ve ever read. If you simply list the story’s elements — a hippy commune, a combat field-medicine controversy, screaming snails, a devious pharmaceutical exec, a long-dead social theorist, the world’s greatest hypochondriac, and a main character who believes a squirrel is following her around California trying to tell her something — you would think that there is just no way it could all come together, but it absolutely does, and ingeniously so. A terrific book!” —Rico Lange, Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

Tie-ins

Jessica Jones: Alias Vol. 4, Marvel Comics (Marvel), which airs on Netflix, comes out this week.

As we reported earlier, Nexflix began streaming the series based on the Marvel superhero in late November. Four books collect the original comics, making this week’s entry the last of the tie-ins.

Starring Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad) as Jones, a character with superhuman strength, the show has racked up some very impressive reviews. Just one example is Eric Deggans take for NPR. He calls it “powerful” and “brilliant” and says it is one “of the best TV shows of the year.”

Also coming this week are several library-friendly titles among the the many Zootopia tie-ins to the new Disney movie due out March 4. Featuring the voices of Idris Elba, Ginnifer Goodwin, and an all star cast, the animated film is about a rookie bunny cop on her first big case.

Zootopia: Judy Hopps and the Missing Jumbo-Pop, Disney Book Group (Disney Press).

Zootopia: Junior Novelization, RH Disney, (PRH/Disney).

Zootopia: The Official Handbook, Suzanne Francis, (PRH/Disney).

Disney Zootopia: The Essential Guide, DK (DK Children).

The Stinky Cheese Caper (And Other Cases from the ZPD Files)
Greg Trine, Cory Loftis (PRH/Disney).

(for our full list of upcoming adaptations, download our Books to Movies and TV and link to our

After stealing key scenes in Downton Abbey and wowing small girls in Cinderella, Lily James stars in one of the great epics of all time, Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. She takes up the role along side another familiar PBS face, James Norton from Grantchester.

The two help lead the newest BBC historical drama (in partnership with the US based Weinstein company), which is set to air in the US on January 18th on no less than three channels, A&E, Lifetime, and the History Channel.

Reaction to the sexy, violent, and lush drama has been mixed at best.

Here is The Guardian’s drooling take:

“This is proper, proper costume drama at its most lavish and its most dreamily, romantically Russian. This is how you do it, people. This is how you do it. Stop all period dramas being made now because nothing is going to match up to this. Sunday-night TV has been rescued. It’s hard to imagine how the BBC could have done a better job. It makes Downton Abbey look like am dram. It’s tonally perfect, striking exactly the right balance between drama and wit, action and emotion, passion and humour.”

On the other hand, in their preview, Flavorwire says:

“It’s hard to say whether American audiences will take to a literary miniseries comprising six one-and-a-half-hour episodes, but any low ratings won’t be for lack of celebrity or sex or war or incest … it’s Downton Abbey with war scenes, which should be enough to draw and retain an American viewership … Still, based on a single episode, it seems unlikely that this production of War and Peace will reach the heights of the 1966-67 Sergei Bondarchuk version, or the 1956 King Vidor adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn … Anyway, shouldn’t you be reading the book?”

Oddly, War and Peace: Tie-In Edition to Major New BBC Dramatisation, Leo Tolstoy, (BBC Books) is not due to be released until Feb. 23.

Hitting a completely different note, The 5th Wave is coming out on Jan. 22nd.

An alien invasion movie based on the novel by Rick Yancey, it stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Matthew Zuk, and Gabriela Lopez.

As we reported earlier, tie-ins came out in November. In addition, another book the series has been released, The Infinite Sea (Penguin YR/Putnam, 2014). A third book The Last Star (Penguin YR/Putnam) is due in late May.

A new book overturns dieters’ ages-long focus on calories. By an endocrinologist with impressive credentials (he’s a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, among other positions), it debuts on the #3 spot on the 1/24/16 NYT Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous list.

Always Hungry?: Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently (Hachette/Grand Central Life & Style; Hachette Audio; OverDrive Sample) tells dieters to re-think their approach.

Rather than a calories in/calories out model, Ludwig says processed carbohydrates and added sugars are the real problem, creating a chemical state in the body that makes gaining weight easy and losing it difficult.

His message, perfectly timed for the resolution season, is getting plenty of play in print media, from a piece in the NYT’s “Well” blog, to Forbes, Boston Magazine, Runner’s World, and to a post on NPR’s The Salt.

In terms of Oscar nominations, the force is not with Star Wars, which only received nominations in technical categories, but it is with book adaptations. Of the eight nominees for Best Picture, five are based on books, and one other, Spotlight, has a book connection. It is about the Boston Globe‘s Pulitzer Prize winning series of articles, which were released in 2003 in book form, and re-released as a tie-in. UPDATE; There is one more book connection. Although Bridge of Spies is “an original screenplay and not based on any underlying source material,” there are books about the story, including the 1964 memoir by James B. Donovan, played by Tom Hanks in the move, Strangers on a Bridge, republished last year by S&S/Scribner and Bridge of Spies by Giles Whittell, (PRH/Broadway, 2010)

Oscar Nominees — Adaptations (technical nominations not listed)

  

The Revenant – Best Picture, Director (Alejandro G. Iñárritu), Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Supporting Actor (Tom Hardy)

Won Golden Globe Awards for Drama and Best Actor in a Drama on Sunday. The movie has made a best-seller of the book originally released to middling success in 2002  It is currently at #2 NYT Paperback Trade Fiction Best Sellers list.

Tie-in:  The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge by Michael Punke (Macmillian/Picador).
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The Martian — Best Picture, Actor (Matt Damon), Adapted Screenplay

Won Golden Globes for Best Musical or Comedy as well as Best Actor, Musical or Comedy (if you are scratching your head over that designation, you are not alone). The paperback is currently #1 on the NYT Paperback Trade Fiction and #2 on the Paperback Mass-Market Fiction Best Sellers lists.

The Martian, Andy Weir, (PRH/Broadway; mass market pbk)
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The Big Short — Best Picture, Director (Adam McKay), Supporting Actor (Christian Bale), Adapted Screenplay

Tie-in:  The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, Michael Lewis, (Norton)

Currently at #1 on the NYT Paperback Nonfiction Best Sellers list.

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Brooklyn — Best Picture, Actress (Saoirse Ronan), Adapted Screenplay

Tie-in, currently at #3 on NYT Paperback Trade Fiction Best Sellers list:

Brooklyn, Colm Toibin. (S&S/Scribner)
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Room — Best Picture, Director (Lenny Abrahamson), Actress (Brie Larson), Adapted Screenplay

Larson won a Golden Globe for Best Actress, Drama

Tie-ins: Room: A Novel, (Hachette/Back Bay), Mass Market, Audio CD

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Carol — Best Actress (Cate Blanchett), Supporting Actress (Rooney Mara), Adapted Screenplay;  based on Patricia Highsmith’s The Price Of Salt, 1952.

Tie-in: Carol, Patricia Highsmith, (Norton)

Publisher Norton has created a clever recommendation web site, Choose Your Highsmith, which also features a video of several authors, including Alison Bechdel, expressing their enthusiasm for Highsmith.

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45 Years — Best Actress Charlotte Rampling

The movie is based on is in the lead story in the collection, In Another Country, (Biblioasis, June, 2015).
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Steve Jobs — Best Supporting Actress (Kate Winslet), Actor (Michael Fassbender)

Winslet won a Golden Globe for Supporting Actress.

No tie-in, but the book was released in trade paperback around the time of the movie, (with the younger Jobs on the cover):

Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson, (Simon & Schuster)
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The Danish Girl — Best Supporting Actress (Alicia Vikander), Actor (Eddie Redmayne)

Tie-in: The Danish Girl, David Ebershoff, (PRH/Penguin)
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Trumbo — Best Actor (Bryan Cranston)

Trumbo (Movie Tie-In Edition), Bruce Cook, (Hachette/Grand Central)
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Spotlight — Best Director (Tom McCarthy), Actor (Mark Ruffalo), Supporting Actress (Rachel McAdams), Best Original Screenplay

About the Boston Globe‘s  Pulitzer Prize winning series . The articles were later published in book form in 2003 and re-released as a tie-in:

Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church : The findings of the investigation that inspired the major motion picture Spotlight, The Investigative Staff of the Boston Globe, (Hachette/Back Bay)