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. We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment on any of our posts, or contact us here.
By Cindy Orr
This Week In Books
We’re still in a bit of a summer slump for newly published books, but don’t worry, the pace will pick up next week. Our list of New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer (see directly below), is a little shorter than usual. But we have new novels by Robert Crais, Linda Howard, and Brad Thor, plus Jennifer Haigh’s The Condition, which is getting a lot of attention. In the nonfiction category, there’s the big Olympics book of the summer—Rome 1960 by David Maraniss, Confessions of a Subprime Lender by Richard Bitner, a new microhistory called Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol, and the intriguing Up For Renewal: What Magazines Taught Me About Love, Sex, and Starting Over by Cathy Alter.
The Most Wanted Mashup (look to the right) has some new titles this week, including Jane Green’s The Beach House and Johanna Lindsey’s No Choice But Seduction plus Vincent Bugliosi’s The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. There’s also Jill Bolte Taylor’s My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, the intriguing story of a brain scientist who studied herself after a stroke, and, of course, Tim Russert’s books have surged in sales since his untimely death.
Our Under the Radar list this week is Historical Mysteries (right hand column, scroll down). If you’re interested in this genre, don’t miss Sarah Weinman’s articles for Barnes & Noble as well:
A History of Historical Mysteries
Sarah Weinman, whose blog, Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, has set a high standard for writing about the crime world, has a new article in Barnes & Noble News called “Dark Age Detection: Historical Mysteries, Part II“. It’s well worth reading—and if you missed it, take a look at “Ancient Plots: the Mystery in History,” which is Part I. I’m looking forward to Part III!
And Speaking of Mysteries
The summer issue of Mystery Scene Magazine is out. Check here for details.
Bless Me for I Have Sinned. It’s Been 3 Months Since My Last Novel…
Spectacular! I was upset when I couldn’t find Alison Bechdel’s wonderful Entertainment Weekly graphic essay on their website. But she posted it on her blog! You HAVE to see this.
Krakauer’s Next Book Withdrawn
Jon Krakauer’s next book—the story of Pat Tillman, the former football star killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire—has been withdrawn. The book was scheduled for a 500,000 print run and was to come out in October. It looks now as if the book won’t be out until next year—if at all.Read the full story here.
Surprise Bestseller: The Shack
A surprising bestseller lately is The Shack by William P. Young, a hotel night clerk, whose book was privately published by two pastors near Los Angeles. The slim volume has been on the bestseller lists since early June, and seems to be catching on because many of its readers buy multiple copies to give to friends. Read the full story here.
DCPL First to Offer iPod Compatible Downloadable Audiobooks
The District of Columbia Public Library became the first library in the world to offer audiobooks as MP3 downloads. The new format, called OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, is compatible with Apple iPod® and thousands of other MP3 players—including those from Creative, Sony, Samsung, Rio, and SanDisk—as well as most cell phones. This is great news for libraries whose patrons have asked if their downloadable audiobooks are compatible with iPod®.
Lists
Macavity Award Nominees
Loriene Roy’s Picks for Gay Pride Month
50 Best Ever Summer Holiday Books
Authors
Lee Child and also here
James Frey
Cynthia Ozick
Jincy Willett
Tobias Wolff
That’s all for this today, folks. Stay tuned this week for a list of some good nonfiction reads coming out in the next couple of months, reports on RA programs from the ALA Conference in Anaheim, and other goodies.
