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 at rablog@lu.com.
By Cindy Orr
This Week In Books
We have three new novels on our Most Wanted Mashup this week (look to the right): James Lee Burke’s Swan Peak, Silent Thunder by Iris and Roy Johansen, and Tribute by Nora Roberts. And in Nonfiction, there’s Christopher Andersen’s Somewhere in Heaven. Our Under the Radar list this week is Books About Natural Disasters. Look to the right, directly under Most Wanted. I highly recommend Kim Stanley Robinson’s 40 Days of Rain. This story will pull you right in and keep you there.
The big book of the week promises to be Suzanne Brockmann’s Into the Fire, but we also have James Patterson’s YA novel The Dangerous Days of Daniel X, plus a new J. A. Jance title and one by Harry Turtledove. There’s only one nonfiction book to highlight—Janis Ian’s Society’s Child. If you’re my age—mumble, mumble, something—you know who Janis Ian is. If not, just know that Ian was catapaulted into the spotlight by her son Society’s Child (a song story of an interracial relationship), when she was only 15 years old in 1966. This is her autobiography. Scroll down to our New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer column to see the titles to be published in the next week.
Here are a few more books making the news:
Patterson’s Maximum Ride to Stay in Front of Stores Longer
James Patterson hasn’t been happy about the sales of his teen novels in the Maximum Ride series. According to Patterson, they have been buried among the children’s books, and he has asked (or bullied) bookstores into keeping the next book in the series, as well as his first young adult novel, The Dangerous Days of Daniel X, at the front of the store as long as his adult titles stay there. The key is to sell to mothers, he says.
Who Killed Bobby?
The 40th anniversary of the death of Robert F. Kennedy, and the publication of a book called Who Killed Bobby by Shane O’Sullivan, has spurred a movement to reopen the investigation into the case. One of those calling for the reopening of investigations is David Talbott, author of Brothers, about how Bobby Kennedy privately tried to look into the death of his brother John F. Kennedy. And Paul Schrade, Bobby Kennedy’s advisor who was also shot during the assassination, is convinced that a team using modern forensics can prove that a security guard standing behind Kennedy fired some of the shots that killed him.
Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez Lost Film Script to Be Made Into a Movie
An actor and producer from Mexico has acquired the rights to a long lost screenplay written by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez 40 years ago when he was a young struggling writer. The work, called Frontera, is a Western, and filming will begin next year.
The Next Water for Elephants?
City of Thieves by David Benioff is being touted by some booksellers as the next sleeper hit. The book is being hand sold by independent booksellers, was featured on NPR and in the New York Times, and was pushed hard by the publisher’s reps. Keep an eye on this one.
Summer Surprise Hit?
The unfortunate death of one of the authors of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society has given it a second life in sales. The Society is a book club formed on the spot to protect its members from arrest by the Nazis who occupied their island during World War II. The book has more than 100,000 copies in print, which is truly unusual for a first novel. It will be the Indie Bound number one pick for August, and Costco has placed large orders.
Uncut Version of First Circle
Aleksander Solzhenitsyn’s The First Circle was banned by Soviet officials in the 1960s, even after he cut nine chapters. It was mysteriously smuggled out of the Soviet Union and published in the United States. Now, Harper Perennial will publish the first English language uncut version. It should be out in 2009.
And now the rest of the news for the week:
ThrillerFest Reports
The International Thriller Writers ThrillerFest was held last week. Check our reports here, here, and here.
Borders Catches Up with Libraries in Download Arena
Borders has begun offering digital downloads of audiobooks for sale. Hundreds of libraries beat them to it, which feels really good!
Would True Crime Readers Enjoy Police Procedurals?
That’s the question posed by Sarah Weinman in the LA Times. Weinman’s article talks about Douglas Preston’s true crime book The Monster of Florence, as well as his thrillers written with Lincoln Child (Relic, etc.). Michael Connelly has also written mysteries (the Harry Bosch series) as well as a true crime book titled Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers.
Incessant Fashion References in Teen Novels
A doctoral thesis has found that on average, books in the Clique, Gossip Girl, and A-List series for teens, mention a brand name more than once per page. The author found 1,553 brand mentions in 1,431 pages of the six books she read. She concludes that brand names are more important in these books than romancing boys!
Bat Segundo Closes Shop
If, like me, you’re a fan of the author interviews done by Edward Champion, aka Bat Segundo, you’ll be sad to hear that he has decided to post what he has, and not do any more. The Bat Segundo show is on “indefinite hiatus unless some magical sponsor or benefactor can appear at the eleventh hour to save the show.” Champion has been producing the show with his own money, and just can’t do it anymore. Because his freelance work has “dried up,” he is looking for a full time job.
Publishers Weekly Reviewers Make Only $25 a Review
Publishers Weekly has given up its decades old tradition of anonymity of reviewers. In return for paying them only $25 a review, they will now have their names appended to their reviews. For those who thought the reviewers were honored members of the PW staff, it’s interesting to take a look at their bios as published by The Observer.
Kay Ryan Named US Poet Laureate
Kay Ryan, whose poems are simple, accessible, sly, and full of interior rhymes, has been named the US Poet Laureate by James Billington, Librarian of Congress.
Robert Graves Stole His Ideas From Laura Riding Jackson
According to a scholar who has spent two decades studying the subject…yes. The intriguing story is here.
Independent Booksellers Present Read-A-Thons in October
Independent booksellers will be encouraged to sponsor reading marathons in October, with proceeds going to charity.
Tips from Friends and Family (and Your Favorite Readers’ Advisor) Work Better than Computers
“In spite of Amazon’s complex algorithms and Shelfari, personal recommendations are still the best way to encounter new novels and writers,” says this former bookseller…as long as you remember that it’s all about what THEY want to read, not you.
The American University of Iraq Looking for Book Donations
That’s right. Read it here.
In the meantime, we can look forward to the publication of books like the one being planned by “LO” which stands for Living Oprah. This Chicago performance artists will follow Oprah’s advice for a year, and hopes to get a book out of it. Depressing when you hear that Lynda Barry couldn’t find a mainstream publisher for her work.
Lists
Dagger Award Winners
The Christy Award Winners
50 Great Translations from the Past 50 Years
Top Ten Nonfiction Titles in China
Harris Poll of Favorite Books
Disinformation.com’s Top Ten Books of All Time
Dylan Thomas Literary Prize Long List
Authors
Jose Eduardo Agualusa
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Jeffery Deaver
Janet Evanovich
Julie Kramer
Dennis Lehane
Terry Pratchett - Interviewed by Neil Gaiman
David Wroblewski
Well, I always try to end with something upbeat. I know it’s a little early to be thinking about Halloween costumes, but how about dressing up as a naughty librarian? Just a thought. See you next week!
