The readers’ advisory librarian’s weekly update, from a scan of more than 100 blogs, newsletters, magazines, newspapers and television. This blog is brought to you by the Reader’s Advisor Online, the subscription database based on Libraries Unlimited’s Genreflecting Advisory series.
By Cindy Orr
This Week In Books
Our Under the Radar list this week is Business Books for Non-Business Majors, contributed by Sarah Statz Cords, the author of The Real Story: a Guide to Nonfiction Reading Interests. We’re getting into the spring big books now, and the Most Wanted Mashup this week includes new fiction by Iain Banks, Mary Kay Andrews, Christine Feehan, Sophie Kinsella, John Lescroart, Danielle Steel and Fern Michaels, plus several others. In nonfiction, we have Why Women Should Rule the World by Dee Dee Myers and a book on the search for Noah’s Ark, plus Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Meth Addiction. Oh, and his son has written his own view of the situation in a book aimed at teens. It’s called Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff. Take a look to the right and scroll down for the (long) lists. Something for everyone this week I think, which is what makes this so much fun.
O. J.’s Sports Agent Will Rat Him Out in Regnery Book
Okay, so this one may not be so much fun… O.J. Simpson’s sports agent Michael Gilbert has sold a book to Regnery called How I Helped O. J. Get Away With Murder. He promises to “detail O.J.’s late-night confession” and provide “shocking new proof that O.J. Simpson did indeed murder Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.” A “portion” (no specifics promised) of his royalties have been pledged to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
Jon Krakauer Tackles Tillman Story
USA Today is reporting that Jon Krakauer’s next book, called The Hero, to be published in October, will tell the story of the death of Pat Tillman, the NFL player who gave up his multimillion dollar contract to join the Army and go to Afghanistan where he died in a controversial “friendly fire” incident.
I Thought That Cover Looked Familiar
But I never realized it was exactly the same. Take a look at the photos on the book covers used by the New York Times as examples, and here are a couple more. Embarrassing.
Prick Lit (et al.)
Thanks to Sarah for this one. It’s a suggested Taxonomy of Lit. The original list is great (Schtick Lit, Brick Lit), but readers are sending in many others too.
The 2008 Tournament of Books Is About to Begin
If you missed it last time, don’t be left out this time. The next tournament begins on March 7, and judges and brackets will be announced before that. The idea is just what it sounds like–book against book–just a nerd’s version of March Madness!
This year’s contestants are:
Run by Ann Patchett
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
Petropolis by Anya Ulinich
Ovenman by Jeff Parker
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DÃaz
You Don’t Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem
New England White by Stephen L. Carter
Remainder by Tom McCarthy
The Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida
Shining at the Bottom of the Sea by Stephen Marche
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
The Therapeutic Effects of Reading
Participation in book groups is increasingly seen as a path to healing. From those suffering with chronic pain, to people who have lost loved ones, to dementia patients, reading and discussing great books seems to pull people out of themselves and into a better place. It “takes us places we hadn’t imagined but which, once seen, we never forget.” Bibliotherapy is back.
Lists
This year’s Bram Stoker Award Nominees for Horror include:
Superior Achievement In a Novel
The Guardener’s Tale by Bruce Boston (Sam’s Dot)
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (William Morrow)
The Missing by Sarah Langan (Harper)
The Witch’s Trinity by Erika Mailman (Crown)
The Terror by Dan Simmons (Little, Brown)
and many more. Winners will be announced at the World Horror Convention March 27-30 in Salt Lake City.
2008 Nebula Awards Short List
Odyssey - Jack McDevitt (Ace)
The Accidental Time Machine – Joe Haldeman (Ace)
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union – Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)
The New Moon’s Arms – Nalo Hopkinson (Warner Books)
Ragamuffin – Tobias Buckell (Tor)
Authors
Susan Faludi: “For all the talk of Condi Rice being in a high position, the woman who was most celebrated in the White House was Karen Hughes. And for what? For going back to the home.”
John Grisham knows he’s no James Joyce: “I can assure you I don’t take myself serious enough to think I’m writing literary fiction and stuff that’s going to be remembered in 50 years. I’m not going to be here in 50 years; I don’t care if I’m remembered or not. It’s pure entertainment.”
Laura Lippman - What she’s working on: “Memoirist in a slump returns to her hometown of Baltimore, thinking she might tease a book out of a little-known murder case and realizes her investigation will come at a great personal cost.”
That’s all for this week. Think Spring!
