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
Hello again. We have some interesting action on the bestseller lists this week. Danielle Steel’s A Good Woman, and The Gate House by Nelson DeMille are the only two new fiction titles on our Most Wanted Mashup this week. But The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which dropped off the list, seems to have had a resurrgence in popuolarity and is back on the bestseller lists this week. Maybe word of mouth has kicked in.
In nonfiction, President-Elect Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope is back on the list, and we also have The Flat Belly Diet whose author appeared on Rachael Ray’s program, and The Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics. In keeping with the election excitement and everything Obama, our Under the Radar list this week is Dog-Eared Books. While you watch the Presidential dog adoption storyline unfold, you can read some of the best fiction and nonfiction dog stories ever.
Look directly below this entry to see our complete list of New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer titles. Poor Father Andrew Greeley, whose The Archbishop in Andalusia will be out this week, caught his sleeve on a taxicab door Friday, fell and fractured his skull. As of this writing, he is in critical condition in a Chicago area hospital. We wish him well. Too much author bad news this week. See the author section at the end of the post for obituaries of Michael Crichton and Studs Terkel.
Several other familiar authors have new novels this week as well, including Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, with an Ender sequel, Wally Lamb and others. But the big book of the week is Toni Morrison’s Mercy. Nonfiction titles include the sure bestseller You: Being Beautiful by Michael F. Roizen & Mehmet C. Oz. Then there’s Paul Simon’s Lyrics, Robert J. Samuelson’s The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath, Ted Turner’s Call Me Ted, and an intriguing one called The Hit Charade: Lou Pearlman, Boy Bands, and the Biggest Ponzi Scheme in U.S. History by Tyler Gray. See the next post for the rest.
W’s Memoirs on Hold
An Associated Press reporter contacted several publishers to ask them about the prospects for George W. Bush’s memoirs. Apparently, they are not good, as several advised that he wait for a more auspicious time. On the other hand, prospects for Condoleezza Rice or Laura Bush seem to be much better.
On a related note, GalleyCat says that several authors believe that the eight years that George W. Bush served as President affected their creativity in negative ways.
Book Sale Calendar
Looking for a place to promote your Friends book sale? Try this site, which has several hundred listed.
World Fantasy Conference
We announced the World Fantasy Awards earlier, but check this site for some great video of the conference. Almost as good as being there.
What Should Obama Read?If you could suggest one book for Barack Obama to read, what would it be? Post your suggestion here.
The Genre Formerly Known As Horror
Publishers Weekly blogger Rose Fox has a really interesting take on the horror genre—its history and development. “Horror became a publishing category–a genre–sometime after Fred Mustard Stewart and Ira Levin had shown that a horror novel could be both good fiction and hugely best-selling.”
Jack Black As Gulliver
Yep. Jack Black has agreed to play Gulliver in a modern reimagining of Gulliver’s Travels for the big screen. The Twentieth Century Fox production is based on the premise of Lemuel Gulliver, who is washed ashore onto an island of little people when he takes a trip to the Bermuda Triangle. Shooting begins in March.
Hoover’s FBI Tracked David Halberstam
Documents show that Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Halberstam was monitored by the FBI during the time that J. Edgar Hoover ran the agency. In a memorandum from 1968, the FBI noted “that articles written by [Halberstam] in the past, including those written about the Vietnamese War, had been critical of the U.S. participation in that conflict.�
On What Makes a Believable Female Character
“I don’t like girl characters much.” But why not? Here you have the reasons.
Lists
Amazon’s Best Books of 2008
Indie Next December Picks
NY Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2008
Authors
Sherman Alexie on Stephen Colbert’s show
Saul Bellow’s Chicago
Carolyn Chute
Michael Crichton – obituary
Andrew Greeley - – injured
Milan Kundera - accused of working for the secret police
Toni Morrison - reading from her new book A Mercy
Studs Terkel - obituary
David Foster Wallace performance
Some libraries had a good week (mine passed its crucial levy), some had a terrible week (Philadelphia is closing 11 branches). Here’s a feel good link to get you through: Esquire endorses public libraries.
