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
New books by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark, Eric Jerome Dickey, P.D. James, J.R.R. Tolkien and James Patterson highlight the New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer list this week. Scroll down and look at the next blog entry for the complete list of the noteworthy titles to be published this week. On the nonfiction shelves, there are a few really big titles: Annie Leibovitz at Work, by Leibovitz herself, a new book by Stephen Covey on leadership should be big, and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, all promise to be bestsellers soon. In addition, Mike Huckabee is apparently already looking toward 2012 with his new book called Do the Right Thing.
The view out my windows inspired the Under the Radar list on Winter this week, and in our Most Wanted Mashup, the hot books new to the bestseller lists include David Baldacci’s Divine Justice, Midnight by Sister Souljah, Laurell K. Hamilton’s Swallowing Darkness, and Salvation in Death by J. D. Robb. In nonfiction, the Editors of Life Magazine have hit the target with their instabook The American Journey of Barack Obama, and the President-Elect’s own book Dreams from My Father is back on the list now that he’s been elected. Look to the right column for both of these lists.
Michael Crichton Book Cancelled
The untitled Michael Crichton book scheduled to be published in May of 2009 has apparently been cancelled. Crichton died of cancer recently.
Kitty Kelley’s Oprah Book
Kitty Kelley says her forthcoming book on Oprah Winfrey won’t be a hatchet job. But, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, she does ask questions about drugs, sex and old boyfriends.
Obama, Obama, and More Obama
PW gathers news of forthcoming books about President-Elect Obama. They include speeches, poems, several journalists’ books and more.
Urban Fantasy: Subset of Noir?
John Levitt, who used to write Mysteries, but has turned to Urban Fantasy, says that he thinks some Urban Fantasy is an offshoot of Noir, while others are a subgenre of Fantasy. “Jim Butcher is classic UF. Neal Gaiman, who also sets his fantasies in contemporary society, is not. Rob Thurman is. Sean Stewart is not.”
Holiday Book Sales Forecast: Bleak
Publishers and booksellers are pessimistic about the holiday season. But several of them have their hopes pinned on a few big titles.
And then there’s a marketing idea—ask people to buy books as gifts.
What’s a Library Worth?
This isn’t exactly a readers’ advisory subject, but the news about public libraries has been so depressing lately, I thought this would be good to share. Try the Return on Investment Calculator for Library Users developed by the North Suburban Library System. Several sources have mentioned that using a public library is a great way to save money. This source can help people figure out exactly how much they’re saving.
Books by Laura and W
In an interesting twist, publishers seem excited about the possibility of a book by Laura Bush. But George W: not so much.
Lists
Books That Make You Feel Better About Staying Home
ABE Books Bestsellers
Israel@60
PEN USA Winners
PW’s Catholic Bestsellers November 2008
National Outdoor Book Awards
Circadian Novels
Authors
Joseph Boyden - wins Giller Prize
George Carlin - wins Mark Twain Prize for American Humor posthumously
David Halberstam - the FBI tracked him for decades
Joe Hyams - obituary
Nam Le - wins Dylan Thomas Book Prize
Barack Obama - reading habits
Atiq Rahimi - wins Prix Goncourt
Cumulative Lists of the Year’s Best Books
Amazon’s Best Books of 2008 and here
PW’s Best Books of 2008
Hudson Booksellers Best Books of 2008
