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’ 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
The bestseller turnover trend continues–a few new titles on the list again this week, but all the fiction is by recognizable authors. Take a look to the right for this week’s Most Wanted Mashup for the complete list. The titles new to the lists this week are: Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child – Cemetery Dance, John Sandford – Wicked Prey, John Hart – The Last Child, Elmore Leonard – Road Dogs. In nonfiction, there’s only one new title this week:
Doug Stanton – Horse Soldiers.
Just under the Most Wanted Mashup in the righthand column, you’ll see this week’s Under the Radar list: Me in a Nutshell: Memoirs Under 200 Pages by Sarah Statz Cords.
And, as always, just under this post, you’ll see this week’s New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer, a listing of selected titles hitting the shelves in the next seven days. A few highlights: China Mieville’s The City and the City, The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly, Neil Gaiman’s Crazy Horse, One in a Million by Kimberla Lawson Roby, Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, Richard Ben-Veniste’s The Emperor’s New Clothes: Exposing the Truth from Watergate to 9/11,
and Holly Robinson’s The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter: A Memoir. Again, page down to see the complete list. It’s a long one this week.
If you’re lucky enough to be going to BEA, have a blast! Here’s a list of the best galleys to watch for.
On Demand and Short Run Books Exceed the Number of Traditionally Published Titles
Bowker just released book industry statistics for 2008 showing that, for the first time ever, more On Demand and short-run books were published (285,394) than the output of traditional publishing.
The top five selling categories were
1. Fiction (47,541 new titles)
2. Juveniles (29,438)
3. Sociology/Economics (24,423)
4. Religion (16,847)
5. Science (13,555)
Though fiction had the most titles, it was one of the biggest losers, falling 11% from 2007. Travel fell 15%. No distinction was made between self-published books using short run technology, and traditional publishers using it, but one can presume that a lot of the increase can be accounted for by self-publishing.
In Publisher Advances, $35,000 is the new $75,000
Captain Richard Phillips, the merchant-ship hero who recently saved his crew from pirates, has a book in the works, and the auction for rights topped out at around $500,000…about half the advance it had been expected to go for. As the bad economy takes its toll, advances get smaller…or disappear entirely. Britney Spears unsuccessfully shopped her memoir recently, for example.
Amazon’s 2009 Breakthrough Novel Finalists
Amazon will announce its Breakthrough Novel of the Year on Wednesday.The three finalists are James King: Bill Warrington’s Last Chance, Ian Gibson: Stuff of Legends, and Brandi Lynn Ryder: In Malice, Quite Close.
For Those Who Hate to Weed and Those Who Try to Convince Them They Should Love It
Here are some candidates for the world’s most awful books still on library shelves. Take a look—is this your library?
Reading Aloud: Is It a Lost Art?
Listening to how a person reads aloud can tell you a lot about that person. In this age, we listen to works being read by professionals, as we sit alone. Or, if we prefer to read print, we sit alone reading silently. The great abundance of books has made this possible. Readers in the past did not have the abundance or the technology, so they read aloud to each other. Reading to ourselves rather than sharing, may mean that we are forgetting how to skillfully read aloud.
British Readers React to Shelftalkers
When The Guardian asked for reader reaction to bookstore shelftalkers, they got an earful. Read the short article here and be sure to scroll down for the comments. Wonder if these reactions are typical in America as well?
Senior VP of Farrar, Straus & Giroux on the Book Business
Much has been written about how the publishing industry is in trouble. But this is scary—especially coming from Farrar, Straus & Giroux, an outstanding company whose titles often dominate the awards lists. Elisabeth Sifton, senior VP says in The Nation, “It is a confused, confusing and very fluid situation, and no one can predict how books and readers will survive. Changed reading habits have already transformed and diminished them both. I, for one, don’t trust the book trade to see us through this. Wariness is in order.”
Science Fiction Novelists Plot the Future Of Homeland Security
Harry McDavid, chief information officer for Homeland Security’s Office of Operations Coordination & Planning says that “We’re stuck in a paradigm of databases. How do we jump out of our infrastructure and start conceptualizing those threats?” One way Homeland Security is trying—ask science fiction writers to help them. How cool is that?
To Library Webmasters: Heads Up…Could This Happen to You?
You Tube is hard at work deleting thousands of sexually explicit videos after it was hit by an organized attack. The attackers uploaded the porn as a reaction to You Tube’s policy of deleting copyrighted music. Now that would just ruin your day.
Try a Graphic Novel Book Club
One bookseller at least, has found a graphic novel book club to be successful. Have you tried one in your library? How did it go?
Do Princess Stories Influence Girls to Expect a Pedestal?
Why don’t those who assume that books can influence children ever seem to think they influence them for good? Anyway…here’s another controversy. What happens when our daughters get to adulthood and they realize that the world isn’t a fairy tale?
Accounts of the Death of the Short Story Are Greatly Exaggerated
At least according to Laura Furman, editor of the annual O. Henry prize anthology, short stories are alive and well. Video here.
Books on Screen
Dean Koontz – The Husband
Sherlock Holmes, and here, starring Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, and Rachel McAdams
George Orwell – Catalonia, starring Colin Firth and Kevin Spacey
Martin Booth – A Very Private Gentleman, starring George Clooney
Jody Picoult – My Sister’s Keeper
Authors
Mario Benedetti – revered Latin American author – obituary
David Herbert Donald - Lincoln expert – obituary
Amos Elon – Israeli author – obituary
Elsie B. Washington – wrote the first black romance novel – obituary
Lists
Ten Books to Read Before They Hit the Big Screen
James Tait Black Memorial Prizes Shortlist
15 Influential Early Works of Apocalyptic Fiction
Writing of Place
The Daily Beast’s 13 Hottest Summer Reads
Lighthearted Link of the Week
Thanks to Jessica Zellers for this one:
Top 20 Most Annoying Book Reviewer Clichés
