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
Of course, the huge news of the week has to be Oprah’s choice of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski for her next book club pick. This choice has some extra implications for libraries. First, I’d like to say that it’s a brilliant book, with an author who has a great personal story. (This is his first novel, and he toiled over it for ten years.) But one thing I haven’t heard anyone discuss yet, is that it is 576 pages long, and it’s not a quick read. Because of that, we’ll need extra copies to meet the demand. But what a nice problem to have.
New to the bestseller lists this week are three books that are no surprise: Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, Anathem by Neal Stephenson, and The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen. In the Nonfiction category, we have another Iraq book: Bing West’s The Strongest Tribe. But there’s also a sleeper: Stacey O’Brien’s Wesley the Owl is a memoir about a Caltech researcher’s 19 years with Wesley. Look to the right for our Most Wanted Mashup. Our Under the Radar topic this week (directly under Most Wanted), is a fun one: “Uncovering Secret Histories.”
As usual, directly below this post, you’ll find our weekly New, Noteworthy and No-Brainer list. New to the shelves in the upcoming seven days, we have some really big names: Kate Atkinson, Dennis Lehane (though this one is a historical novel), Candace Bushnell, John Sandford, Stuart Woods, Alexander McCall Smith, Maya Angelou, T. D. Jakes, Bill O’Reilly, Alec Baldwin…look to the next post to see the complete list.
Harlequin To Launch First Nonfiction Imprint with Today Show Appearance
Harlequin has announced a 300,000 copy printing for Love Matters: Remarkable Stories That Touch the Heart and Nourish the Soul by nighttime radio host Delilah. The book will be released on September 30, and not only will Delilah talk about it on her show, but there will be considerable media attention, including an appearance on The Today Show on October 1. Harlequin has nine titles planned for 2009, ranging from self-help to memoir.
Eoin Colfer Tapped to Write the Sixth Hitchhiker’s Guide
When Douglas Adams passed away at the age of 49, fans were of course shocked, saddened, and upset that there would only ever be five books in The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy . But news came this week that Eoin Colfer, the author of the Artemis Fowl books, has agreed to write the sixth book. Called And Another Thing, the book will be published by Penguin in October of 2009. Adams himself had said, “People have said, quite rightly, that Mostly Harmless is a very bleak book. And it was a bleak book. I would love to finish Hitchhiker on a slightly more upbeat note, so five seems to be a wrong kind of number, six is a better kind of number.”
Colfer, who has been a fan of the books since his school days, says he is feeling the pressure, but is determined to write the best thing he has ever written. He was approached by the widow of Adams with the proposal, and he says it was “like suddenly being offered the superpower of your choice”.
Target Sells the Sony Reader
Target is now carrying the Sony Reader Digital Book, making the device more widely available to consumers. The Reader sells for $299, and unlike the Kindle, which works only with Amazon products, can be used to download ebooks and audiobooks from a variety of vendors. It can also be used with OverDrive library ebook collections. In the meantime, Amazon’s Kindle is the biggest kid on the block, and publishers are afraid that Amazon will use it to muscle into the publishing arena even more than they already are.
The End?
New York Magazine has a fascinating, long, and depressing article on the state of the publishing business. “The book business as we know it will not be living happily ever after. With sales stagnating, CEO heads rolling, big-name authors playing musical chairs, and Amazon looming as the new boogeyman, publishing might have to look for its future outside the corporate world.”
The Long Tail May Be Longer, But It’s Not Fatter When It Comes to Books
The July-August issue of The Harvard Business Review has an intriguing article by Anita Elberse, called “Should You Invest in the Long Tail?” Shelf-Awareness also reports on a presentation made by Elberse at a Book Industry Study Group meeting held last Friday. Elberse, according to Shelf-Awareness, said that niche products have two disadvantages: they’re not well known, and they may be niche products because most people don’t like them. The conclusion? The blockbuster strategy taken by publishers won’t be going away soon. But what does this mean for libraries? Do our “niche products” sit on the shelves because no one wants them? Read the articles, and let us know what you think?
Candace Bushnell to Write Sex and the City: the Teen Years
Okay, I lied…that’s not the title. But that is what she’s doing. Bushnell, who wrote Sex and the City, has signed a two-book deal with the HarperCollins children’s division to write The Carrie Diaries, to be released in Fall, 2010.
Solid Audio Book Gains
Sales of spoken word audiobooks have risen 12%, and the number of American adults who have used an audiobook rose to 28%, according to an APA survey. Young listeners are a growing market, and 53% of teens have listened to an audiobook.
Agatha Christie Recordings Discovered
While cleaning out his grandmother’s house, Agatha Christie’s grandson found recordings of her discussing her work, including the origins of Miss Marple. The recordings have been digitized, and the family is pondering what to do with them. No new information was revealed on the recordings, but those who have heard them say that Christie’s speaks in a voice with a perfect British accent. She sounds, “in fact, like old England.”
Stephen King on “Manfiction”
Stephen King, in his Entertainment Weekly column, writes about what his son Joe Hill calls “manfiction.” What do guys want? “What men want from an Elmore Leonard novel is exactly what women want from a Nora Roberts novel — escape and entertainment.” Who are the best current manfiction authors? “Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Richard Stark, and Lee Child,” King says.
Lists
Dylan Thomas Prize Shortlist
Giller Prize Longlist
Authors
Ayan Hirsi Ali - comes out of hiding to accept the Anisfield-Wolf Award
Robert Giroux - Editor, Publisher, Nurturer of Giants – obituary
Sherry Jones, author of The Jewel of Medina, on the controversy
John le Carre - admits he was tempted to spy for the Russians
Philip Roth
David Foster Wallace - more appreciation and tributes
And our usual fun link of the week: Robert Heinlein’s Form Letter Response to Fan Mail
