Archive for October, 2010

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RA Run Down

Sunday, October 31st, 2010

The readers’s 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 raoblog@lu.com.

By Cindy Orr

New Titles On the Bestseller Lists This Week

Fiction

  • Lee Child – Worth Dying For
  • Jan Karon – In the Company of Others
  • Joel C. Rosenberg – The Twelfth Imam

    • Nonfiction

  • Justin Bieber – Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story
  • Mark Twain – The Autobiography of Mark Twain, volume 1

    • And Keep Your Eye On:

  • Stephen R. Donaldson – Against All Things Ending
  • Iris Johansen – Chasing the Night
  • Karen Kingsbury – Unlocked: a Love Story
  • Isabel Wilkerson – The Warmth of Other Suns
  • Hoda Kotb – Hoda
  • Larry Levin – Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love
  • Ron Chernow – Washington

    • To see the entire Most Wanted Mashup of this week’s bestselling titles, look to the righthand column.
    _______________________________________________________
    New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer—To Be Published This Week: Full List Here

    Highlights:

  • Nora Roberts – Happily Ever After (Bride Quartet, bk 4) (trade paper) – 9780425236758 – 2,000,000 copies.
  • Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson – Towers of Midnight – 9780765325945 – 1,000,000 copies. One-day laydown.
  • Rachael Ray – Rachael Ray’s Look + Cook – 9780307590503 – 800,000 copies.
  • J.D. Robb – Indulgence in Death – 9780399156878 – 750,000 copies. One-day laydown.
  • Dennis Lehane – Moonlight Mile (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro) – 9780061836923 – 500,000 copies.
  • Joel Osteen – The Christmas Spirit: Memories of Family, Friends, and Faith – 9781439198339 – 500,000 copies.
  • Dan Brown – The Lost Symbol: Special Illustrated Edition – 9780385533829 – 350,000 copies.
  • Jeffery Deaver – Edge: A Novel – 9781439156353 – 300,000 copies. One-day laydown.

    • and several new holiday titles, including:

  • Sally Goldenbaum – A Holiday Yarn (Seaside Knitters) – 9780451231581
  • Greg Kincaid – Christmas With Tucker – 9780307589637 – 80,000 copies.
  • Tim Slover – The Christmas Chronicles – 9780553808100 – 150,000 copies.
  • Lewis Black – I’m Dreaming of a Black Christmas – 9781594487750 – 150,000 copies. One-day laydown.
  • Gourmet Magazine – The Gourmet Cookie Book: The Single Best Recipe from Each Year, 1941–2009 – 9780547328164 – 50,000 copies.
  • Daisy Martinez – Daisy’s Fiesta: Entertaining Friends and Family with Flavorful Latin Recipes – 9781439199237 – 100,000 copies.
  • Joel Osteen – The Christmas Spirit: Memories of Family, Friends, and Faith – 9781439198339 – 500,000 copies.
  • Margaret Maron – Christmas Mourning – 9780446555807

    • Scroll down for the complete New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer List, or click here.
    _______________________________________________________
    Our Under the Radar list this week is Great Historical Novels of the past Couple of Years. Look in the righthand column just under the Most Wanted Mashup for this list.

    _______________________________________________________
    News of the Week:

  • Great Lakes Romances giving away books to libraries
  • Jane Austen’s polished style may have come from a strict grammarian of an editor, but more credit needs to be given to her original voice: new digital Jane Austen archive compares manuscripts to finished work
  • More on the British Publishers Association’s decision to try to prevent UK use of OverDrive except inside the physical library buildings
  • Still time to apply for a Great Stories CLUB grant through ALA’s YALSA. The program targets underserved, troubled teen populations. The program reaches teens through books that are relevant to their lives, inviting them to read and keep the books, and encourages them to consider and discuss each title with a group of their peers. Deadine November 15.
  • Wired’s Kevin Kelly talks about “Amish hackers” in his book What Technology Wants
  • Melville House, which has a book that is the most recent winner of the Best Translated Book Award, laments the fact that Amazon is now taking over sponsorship of the award (and used Melville House’s name in the press releases as if they were part of the change), and has decided it wants nothing to do with it for about 15 reasons, which they highlight in detail, calling Amazon’s practices thuggish and predatory and in the same vein, Richard Curtis raises a big question about Amazon’s “potential restraint of trade” as they try to cajole publishers to transfer their POD business to Amazon-owned BookSurge. Pretty sobering.
  • State of Texas sends Amazon a tax bill for $269 million
  • Grove/Atlantic to publish fictional memoir of Mad Men’s Roger Sterling in November; Sterling’s Gold by “Roger Sterling.”
  • The story of a National Book Award nominee from a small company (Jaimy Gordon’s Lord of Misrule. Do you have it on order? They’re out of copies already.)
  • Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County sponsored an event that resulted in one of the earliest photographs of a human being
  • Costco picks Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman for November
  • Join the Fantasy Fantasy League
  • The importance of collecting names, and the changes publishers are facing
  • Vending machines and lockers…the future of RA?
  • Johnny Depp narrates the audiobook of Life by Keith Richards
  • A book club for readers who will pay for the privilege of reading galleys before the book is released to the public? First test…Jodi Picoult
  • Two new RA sites: Scholastic’s You Are What You Read, and Peroozal
  • Zombies in the Library Calendar
  • Complete Paris Review interviews with authors, 1953-2010 now online free…tremendous resource
  • Metta Fuller Victor: The First Woman Crime Novelist in the U. S.
  • Small horror presses fill niche gaps left by big publishers
  • NoirCon, Philadelphia, November 4-7
  • A personal plea: Please take a moment and nominate a colleague for a PLA or ALA Award. I’ve had the pleasure of serving on selection committees in the past, and you’d be shocked at how few nominations there are each year. You don’t have to be a member to nominate someone. And some of the committees are not allowed to consider anything except what’s in the nominee paperwork, so we don’t want them to be forced to pick an unworthy candidate. Here’s the place to go to nominate someone for the Allie Beth Martin Award, the Margaret E. Monroe Award, or others. I know you know some great candidates…pass it on! Thanks. Cindy

    • _______________________________________________________
    Books on Screen

  • A new PBS Sherlock Holmes
  • Thousands of New Zealanders marched in support of filming The Hobbit in their country . . . and it worked
  • Danny DeVito will be the Lorax
  • Kristin Davis (Sex and the City) will star in and produce a show based on Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun
  • Ang Li to start shooting The Life of Pi in 3D early next year
  • What to Expect When You’re Expecting to be a romantic comedy
  • Ryan Brown’s debut novel about zombies called Play Dead, sold to movies
  • Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill, Frances O’Connor star in film of Australian author Daniel Nettheim’s book The Hunter
  • CBS Films has acquired the film rights to The Keep by Jennifer Egan
  • The Barnes and Noble Nook Color…just in time for Christmas
  • The blurring line between ebooks and apps
  • “You’ve seen the film…now eat the cast”

    • _______________________________________________________
    Awards

  • Canada’s ReLit Awards (books from small presses)
  • Christa Wolf wins Thomas Mann Prize
  • DSC Prize for South Asian Literature shortlist
  • Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards shortlist
  • UK’s inaugural Galaxy National Book Awards shortlist
  • Whiting Writers’ Awards

    • _______________________________________________________
    Authors

  • Margaret Atwood – designs superhero costumes for two Twitter supporters
  • Jane Austen – photos from the Jane Austen Conference
  • George Bush – first interview since he left the presidency will be on November 8 with Matt Lauer; he’ll be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on November 9…the day his book is released
  • Lawrence Block – on Agatha Christie
  • Pat Conroy – Q & A
  • Leo Cullum – obituary
  • Cory Doctorow – on self-publishing
  • Neil Gaiman – proposes giving books on Halloween
  • Gabriel Garcia Marquez – is completing work on a new novel at age 83
  • Ishmael Jones – talks about being sued by the CIA
  • Robert Katz - obituary
  • Stephen King – on ereading: “I recently downloaded Ken Follett’s “Fall of Giants,” but I also bought a copy to put on the shelf. I want books as objects. It’s crazy, but there are people who collect stamps, too.” and, to the Wall Street Journal, why ebooks are not scary.
  • Harry Mulisch – obituary
  • Bill Norton – obituary
  • Bridget O’Connor – obituary
  • James Patterson – joins Stieg Larsson as the second author to sell 1 million copies on Kindle
  • Anne Rice – on why she left the Catholic church and how it relates to her next book; and…if you’d like to buy part of her personal library, Powell’s has 7,000 books from her library for sale
  • Arundhati Roy – may be arrested for remarks in Kashmir
  • Natasha Spender – obituary
  • Joseph Stein – obituary
  • Charlie Stross – rant: there’s too damn much steampunk right now, and most of it is derivative
  • Tolstoy Centennial – six must read books
  • Jeanette Winterson – to write a horror novel

    • _______________________________________________________
    Lists

  • Shelf Renewal’s The Scariest Book I’ve Ever Read
  • October Christian Marketplace Bestsellers
  • Daily Beast’s 12 highlights from Life by Keith Richards
  • Kate Mosse’s Top 10 Ghost Stories
  • Cynthia Ozick’s Top Books on Innocence Lost
  • Huffington Post’s 7 Big Books by Basketball’s Greatest Coaches
  • November Indie Next List
  • The Indie Sci-Fi & Fantasy Bestseller List
  • Classic Science Fiction Tearjerkers
  • The 50 Most Hated Characters in Literary Fiction
  • Guardian First Book Award shortlist

    • _______________________________________________________
    Lighthearted Links of the Week

  • How literary characters would have adapted to the digital age…which one would have been a Facebook addict?
  • Literary Pet Halloween Costumes
  • Personalized romance or erotic novels just for you…choose from four different settings on the Lovin-O-Meter…choose details, including nipple color
  • Using a Flowchart to Explain the Web to an Urchin from a Charles Dickens Novel

    • Posted in RA Run Down | No Comments »

    Most Wanted Mashup: Hottest Books of the Week

    Sunday, October 31st, 2010
    FICTION

    NONFICTION
    • Justin Bieber – Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story
    • Bill Bryson – At Home
    • Jane Leavy – The Last Boy
    • Tucker Max – Assholes Finish First
    • Bill O’Reilly – Pinheads and Patriots
    • Condoleezza Rice – Extraordinary Ordinary People
    • Michael Savage – Trickle Up Poverty
    • Jon Stewart – Earth (The Book)
    • Mark Twain – The Autobiography of Mark Twain, volume 1
    • Bob Woodward – Obama’s Wars


    MASS MARKET PAPERBACK ORIGINALS:
    • Lara Adrian – Taken by Midnight
    • Janet Dailey – Santa in Montana
    • Sandra Hill – Dark Viking
    • Madeline Hunter – Sinful in Satin
    • Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dianna Love – Blood Trinity
    • Lora Leigh – Styx’s Storm
    • Julia London – The Year of Living Scandalously
    • Fern Michaels – Cross Roads
    • Kerrelyn Sparks – Eat Prey Love
    • J. R. Ward – Crave
      •

    Posted in Most Wanted | No Comments »

    Under the Radar: Great Historical Novels of the Past Couple of Years

    Sunday, October 31st, 2010

    Posted in Under the Radar | No Comments »

    New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainers

    Sunday, October 31st, 2010

    MONDAY FICTION

  • Simon Beaufort – The Bloodstained Throne (Sir Geoffrey Mappestone) – 9780727869173
  • Maggie Bennett - Strangers and Pilgrims – 9780727869272
  • Adam Levin – The Instructions – 9781934781821
  • Cynthia Ozick – Foreign Bodies – 9780547435572 a “photographic negative” of The Ambassadors by Henry James
  • I.J. Parker – The Masuda Affair (Sugawara Akitada) – 9780727869258
  • Janice Shapiro – Bummer: And Other Stories – 9781593762964

    • MONDAY NONFICTION

  • Judd Apatow – I Found This Funny: My Favorite Pieces of Humor and Some That May Not Be Funny At All – 9781934781906
  • Portia de Rossi – Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain – 9781439177785 – 350,000 copies.
  • James T. Kloppenberg – Reading Obama: Dreams, Hope, and the American Political Tradition – 9780691147468
  • Stacy Schiff – Cleopatra: A Life – 9780316001922 – 100,000 copies. Bought by Angelina Jolie

    • TUESDAY FICTION

  • Nicholas Kilmer – A Butterfly in Flame (Fred Taylor Art Mystery) – 9781590587911
  • Dan Brown – The Lost Symbol: Special Illustrated Edition - 9780385533829 – 350,000 copies.
  • Jeffery Deaver - Edge: A Novel – 9781439156353 – 300,000 copies. One-day laydown.
  • Sally Goldenbaum – A Holiday Yarn (Seaside Knitters) – 9780451231581
  • Grant Jerkins – A Very Simple Crime – 9780425238301
  • Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson – Towers of Midnight – 9780765325945 – 1,000,000 copies. One-day laydown.
  • Ismail Kadare – The Accident: A Novel – 9780802129956
  • Greg Kincaid – Christmas With Tucker – 9780307589637 – 80,000 copies.
  • Dennis Lehane – Moonlight Mile (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro) – 9780061836923 – 500,000 copies.
  • Armistead Maupin – Mary Ann in Autumn: A Tales of the City Novel – 9780061470882 – 100,000 copies. One-day laydown.
  • Patrick McManus – The Huckleberry Murders – 9781439190845
  • Tierno Monénembo – The King of Kahel – 9780982555071
  • J.D. Robb – Indulgence in Death – 9780399156878 – 750,000 copies. One-day laydown.
  • Nora Roberts – Happily Ever After (Bride Quartet, bk 4) (trade paper) – 9780425236758 – 2,000,000 copies.
  • Tim Slover – The Christmas Chronicles – 9780553808100 – 150,000 copies.

    • TUESDAY NONFICTION

  • Peter Ackroyd – Venice: Pure City – 9780385531528 – 50,000 copies.
  • Susan Cheever – Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography – 9781416569916 – 60,000 copies.
  • Lewis Black – I’m Dreaming of a Black Christmas – 9781594487750 – 150,000 copies. One-day laydown.
  • Andrew Bleiman and Chris Eastland – ZooBorns – 9781439195314 – 150,000 copies.
  • Kate Braestrup – Beginner’s Grace: Bringing Prayer to Life – 9781439184264 – 125,000 copies.
  • Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent – Heaven Is for Real – 9780849946158 – 50,000 copies.
  • Charles, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales – Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our Worlds – 9780061731310 – 75,000 copies
  • Pat Conroy – My Reading Life – 9780385533577 – 300,000 copies.
  • Gary Dell’Abate – They Call Me Baba Booey – 9781400069552 – 175,000 copies.
  • Shannon Doherty – Badass: A Hard-Earned Guide to Living Life With Style and (The Right) Attitude – 9780307591524 – 125,000 copies.
  • Steve Dublanica – Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper’s Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity – 9780061787287 – 50,000 copies
  • Jeff Dunham – All by My Selves: Walter, Peanut, Achmed, and Me – 9780525951414 – 100,000 copies.
  • Carlos Eire – Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Refugee Boy – 9781439181904 – 75,000 copies.
  • Barbara Fairchild – Bon Appetit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful – 9780740793523 – 150,000 copies.
  • Ellen Fontana – Audrey 100 – 9781402778360
  • Antonia Fraser – Must You Go?: My Life with Harold Pinter – 9780385532501 – 75,000 copies.
  • Gourmet Magazine – The Gourmet Cookie Book: The Single Best Recipe from Each Year, 1941–2009 – 9780547328164 – 50,000 copies.
  • Sam Irvin - Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise – 9781439176535
  • Dana Jennings – What a Difference a Dog Makes: Big Lessons on Life, Love and Healing from a Small Pooch – 9780385532839 – 150,000 copies.
  • James Kaplan – Frank: The Voice – 9780385518048 – 200,000 copies.
  • Timothy Keller – Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just – 9780525951902 – 100,000 copies. One-day laydown.
  • Debbie Macomber – God’s Guest List: Welcoming Those Who Influence Our Lives – 9781439108963 – 65,000 copies.
  • Ricky Martin – Me – 9780451234155
  • Daisy Martinez – Daisy’s Fiesta: Entertaining Friends and Family with Flavorful Latin Recipes – 9781439199237 – 100,000 copies.
  • Joel Osteen – The Christmas Spirit: Memories of Family, Friends, and Faith – 9781439198339 – 500,000 copies.
  • Thomas Powers – The Killing of Crazy Horse – 9780375414466 – 50,000 copies.
  • Charles Rappleye – Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution – 9781416570912
  • Rachael Ray – Rachael Ray’s Look + Cook – 9780307590503 – 800,000 copies.
  • Ellen Rogers – Kasey to the Rescue: The Remarkable Story of a Monkey and a Miracle - 9781401323417 – 100,000 copies.
  • Felix G. Rohatyn - Dealings: A Political and Financial Life – 9781439181966
  • Amy Sedaris – Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People – 9780446557030 – 350,000 copies. One-day laydown.
  • Zhi Gang Sha – Tao II: The Way of Healing, Rejuvenation, Longevity, and Immortality – 9781439198650 – 150,000 copies.
  • Donald Spoto – Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford - 9780061856006
  • Matt Taibbi – Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America – 9780385529952
  • Stephan Talty - Escape from the Land of Snows: The Young Dalai Lama’s Harrowing Flight to Freedom and the Making of a Spiritual Hero – 9780307460950 – 40,000 copies
  • Margaret Trudeau – Changing My Mind – 9780062064875
  • Harry S. Truman and Dean Acheson - Affection and Trust: The Personal Correspondence of Harry S. Truman and Dean Acheson, 1953-1971 – 9780307593542
  • Buddy Valestro – Cake Boss: The Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia – 9781439183519 – 150,000 copies.
  • Dionne Warwick – My Life as I See It: An Autobiography – 9781439171349 – 125,000 copies.
  • Simon Winchester – Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories – 9780061702587 – 150,000 copies. One-day laydown.

    • WEDNESDAY NONFICTION

  • Laurie David – The Family Dinner with recipes by Kirstin Uhrenholdt - 9780446565462 – 75,000 copies.
  • John Powell – How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond – 9780316098304 – 50,000 copies.

    • THURSDAY NONFICTION

  • Saul Bellow and Benjamin Taylor – Saul Bellow: Letters – 9780670022212
  • Jim Carroll – The Petting Zoo – 9780670022182
  • Bill Carter – The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy – 9780670022083

    • THURSDAY FICTION

  • William Trevor – Selected Stories – 9780670022069

    • FRIDAY FICTION

  • Margaret Maron – Christmas Mourning – 9780446555807

    • Posted in New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer | No Comments »

    Display Brainstorming: November Edition

    Friday, October 29th, 2010

    November is:

  • Aviation History Month
  • Child Safety Protection Month
  • International Drum Month
  • National Adoption Awareness Month
  • National Epilepsy Month
  • National Model Railroad Month
  • National Novel Writing Month
  • Native American Heritage Month
  • Peanut Butter Lovers Month
  • Real Jewelry Month
  • National Sleep Comfort Month
  • Chemistry Week – November 1 – 6
  • Game and Puzzle Week – November 15-20

    • Holidays in November Include:

    1 All Saint’s Day
    1 National Authors’ Day
    2 All Soul’s Day
    5 Guy Fawkes Day
    6 Book Lovers Day
    7 Daylight Savings Time ends at 2 am
    9 Young Readers Day
    11 Veteran’s Day
    12 Chicken Soup for the Soul Day
    13 Sadie Hawkins Day
    17 Homemade Bread Day
    18 Great American Smokeout
    20 National Adoption Day
    21 Mother-in-Law’s Day
    25 Thanksgiving Day
    26 Black Friday

    November Famous Birthdays

    2 Daniel Boone
    2 Cookie Monster
    2 Warren G. Harding
    2 James K. Polk
    2 Marie Antoinette
    4 Laura Bush
    4 Will Rogers
    5 Joel McCrea
    5 Roy Rogers
    6 James Naismith Inventor of Basketball, 1861
    7 Marie Curie, 1867
    8 Margaret Mitchell
    9 Carl Sagan
    10 Martin Luther
    11 Kurt Vonnegut
    12 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1815
    13 Nathaniel Benchley
    13 Robert Louis Stevenson
    14 Condoleezza Rice
    14 Robert Fulton
    14 Claude Monet
    15 Georgia O’Keefe, 1887
    17 Martin Scorsese
    18 Mickey Mouse
    19 James Garfield
    20 Joe Biden
    20 Robert F. Kennedy
    21 Voltaire
    22 Abigail Adams
    23 Franklin Pierce
    24 Dale Carnegie
    24 Zachary Taylor
    25 Andrew Carnegie, 1846
    25 Carrie Nation
    26 Eugene Ionesco
    27 James Agee
    29 Madeline L’Engle, 1918
    29 C. S. Lewis
    29 Louise May Alcott
    30 Mark Twain, 1835
    30 Gordon Parks
    30 Jonathan Swift
    30 Winston Churchill

    November Historical Events:

    1 U.S. Weather Service Established, 1870
    2 International Space Station Opened, 2000
    4 King Tut’s Tomb Discovered, 1922
    8 X-Ray discovered, 1895
    9 Holocaust Began in 1938
    10 Sesame Street Debuted, 1969
    13 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedicated, 1982
    16 Fall of the Incan Empire, 1533
    17 Lewis & Clark Reached the Pacific, 1805
    18 Antarctica discovered, 1820
    19 Gettysburg Address Delivered, 1863
    20 Traffic Light Patented, 1923
    21 Mayflower Compact Signed, 1620
    22 John F. Kennedy Assassinated, 1963
    24 Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species, 1859
    24 Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated by Jack Ruby, 1963
    28 Magellan reached the Pacific, 1521
    29 King Tut’s Tomb Opened, 1922

    Sources include: Chase’s 2010 Calendar of Events; Holiday Insights; Holiday Smart October Calendar; Famous Birthdays.

    Posted in Display Brainstorming | No Comments »

    Core Tools for Readers’ Advisory Service

    Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

    By Cindy Orr

    An excellent and very useful article appeared in the latest RUSQ, the quarterly magazine of the Reference and User Services Division of the American Library Association. The article is called “A Selection of Core Resources for Readers’ Advisory Service,” and it’s edited by Neal Wyatt, who is a collection development and readers’ advisory librarian from Virginia. She wrote The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Nonfiction (ALA Editions, 2007), is the editor of Library Journal’s “Reader’s Shelf” column, author of Booksmack!’s “RA Crossroads” column, and compiles LJ’s weekly “Wyatt’s World Lists.”

    Wyatt recruited about 15 other contributors to help with the project, and this article is something that all RAs should read. (As we mentioned earlier, both Sarah Statz Cords, this blog’s assistant editor, and I contributed to the article, though none of the contributors were allowed to recommend anything they were associated with.)

    The article lists books, key articles, blogs, websites, and databases. One of the criticisms of readers’ advisory service providers is that research has shown that often librarians did not use RA tools, thinking apparently that we should be able to answer RA questions off the top of our heads. There are great tools out there, though, and here’s the question:

    *Do you have any favorites that were left off the list? If you have a useful source that was missed (in fairness, contributors were largely limited to suggesting one source), we’d like to know what it is.

    I’ll start…I love Fantastic Fiction.

    Posted in Cool RA Tools | No Comments »

    RA Run Down

    Sunday, October 24th, 2010

    The readers’s advisory librarian’s Monday morning update, your one stop to get you ready for the week 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 raoblog@lu.com.

    By Cindy Orr

    New Titles On the Bestseller Lists This Week

    Fiction

  • Vince Flynn – American Assassin
  • John Le Carre – Our Kind of a Traitor

    • Nonfiction

  • Jane Leavy – The Last Boy

    • And Keep Your Eye On:

  • Karen Kingsbury – Unlocked: a Love Story
  • Rick Springfield – Late, Late At Night
  • Ann Rule – In the Still of the Night

    • To see the entire Most Wanted Mashup of this week’s bestselling titles, look to the righthand column.
    _______________________________________________________
    New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer—To Be Published This Week:

    You’ll see some titles published this week that will probably be on the bestseller lists next week, including John Grisham, Keith Richards, and the Barefoot Contessa, at least.

  • John Grisham – The Confession
  • Lisa Kleypas – Christmas at Friday Harbor
  • Glenn Beck and Kevin Balfe – Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth and Treasure
  • J. K. Beck – When Wicked Craves
  • David Eisenhower and Julie Nixon Eisenhower – Going Home To Glory: A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961-1969
  • Joseph Ellis – First Family: Abigail and John Adams
  • Ina Garten – Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?: Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips
  • Apolo Ohno – Zero Regrets
  • Keith Richards and James Fox – Life
  • Jessica Seinfeld – Double Delicious!
  • Stephen Sondheim – Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes

    • And that’s only the biggest titles. Scroll down for the complete list, or click here.
    _______________________________________________________
    Our Under the Radar list this week is New Business Titles You May Have Missed. Look in the righthand column just under the Most Wanted Mashup for this list.

    _______________________________________________________
    News of the Week:

  • Nicholas Negroponte: ebooks will dominate print within five years (video)
  • Demand for teen fiction is so high at Barnes & Noble that they are separating the two most popular genres—paranormal romance and fantasy and adventure, plus a section for bestsellers
  • CIA sues ex-agent Ishmael Jones for publishing a book with no classified information and for which he receives no compensation
  • British Publishers Association clamps down on all ebook lending through libraries because one library system ignored geographical requirements of its contract and a statement from OverDrive in response
  • Amazon says it will unveil a feature for Kindle which will allow lending a book to a friend (once) for a period of 14 days…if publishers allow it
  • If you read 100 books a year or more, you’ll have a smaller carbon footprint on an ereader than if you buy paper books
  • Former girlfriend of Clarence Thomas shopping a book
  • Do you know a readers’ advisor mover and shaker? Nominate here.
  • Copyright detective librarians
  • A love letter to Playaways
  • Writers’ houses: do we need to see Emily Dickinson’s chamber pot?
  • How do you feel about reading already marked up ebooks?
  • Kathy Reichs and Andre Dubus III to speak at ALA Midwinter
  • November is NaNoWriMo
  • Only legal audio version of Catcher in the Rye is for the blind
  • Steampunk fan? Join Tor’s Steampunk Fortnight
  • The Nook and the Kobo ereaders on sale at Wal-Mart
  • Harry Potter READ posters now available
  • All Facts Considered…new book by NPR’s librarian Kee Malesky
  • Richard Curtis, literary agent and publisher at ereads: If a politician can buy bestseller list, what else is for sale?
  • How publishers are using book trailers

    • _______________________________________________________
    Books on Screen

  • A novice tries out five ebook readers
  • Why Hollywood can’t get science fiction right
  • Sam Raimi, Robert Downey, Jr. to do Wizard of Oz prequel
  • Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse project
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows trailer…literalized and set to music
  • Entertainment Weekly gets early look at The Hunger Games script…it’s looking to be trying for a PG-13 rating
  • Ridley Scott and CBS take on the Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris. . . will it be as successful as True Blood?
  • HBO’s Too Big To Fail, based on the book by Andrew Ross Sorkin finalizes casting, with Ed Asner, William Hurt, Paul Giamatti, James Woods and others
  • Johnny Depp to remake The Thin Man?
  • The Snowman by Jo Nesbo Optioned for Film Adaptation
  • CSI’s Carol Mendelsohn has sold CBS a new crime series based on Thomas Perry’s Jane Whitefield mysteries
  • ABC considers series based on The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
  • At least two more Robert Parker Jesse Stone movies to come on CBS starring Tom Selleck
  • Opening November 5: the movie For Colored Girls, based on For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange

    • _______________________________________________________
    Awards

  • Toronto Book Award
  • Derringer Awards – mystery short stories
  • Ellis Peters Historical Award shortlist

    • _______________________________________________________
    Authors

  • Chimamanda Achidie – on the danger of the single story (video)
  • Judy Blume – writing Tiger Eyes screenplay to be directed by her son
  • Michael Connelly – Bouchercon interview (video)
  • John Irving – a preview of his forthcoming In One Person, as patched together from his recent lecture tour
  • Sinclair Lewis – Main Street still resonates with readers on its 90th anniversary; “Perhaps no novel since Uncle Tom’s Cabin struck so deep over so wide a surface of the national life.”
  • J. K. Rowling reveals on Oprah that Michael Jackson wanted to produce a Harry Potter musical
  • How to get boys to read…research study suggest limiting video games
  • Ernest J. Gaines - has retired from writing and moved home to Louisiana where he built a house on land where his ancestors were slaves; he tends the old cemetery and intends to be buried there himself
  • Eva Ibbotson - obituary
  • Robert Katz – obituary
  • Stop You’re Killing Me has posted a metalist of all mystery book awards from the past 50 years
  • Jon Meacham – becomes editor at Random House
  • Dinaw Mengestu – interview
  • Greg Mortensen - article by Nicholas Kristoff in the NY Times tells how schools built by author of Three Cups of Tea are impacting education in Afghanistan. (For the price of bringing 243 soldiers home, the US could entirely fund Afghanistan’s university system.)

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    Lists

  • Charles Yu’s Top 10 Time Travel Books
  • LJ’s Black History Month Sneak Peak
  • The 25 best horror films of all time
  • 20 Heroic Librarians Who Save the World

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    Lighthearted Links of the Week

  • Let’s Play Library: The Little Librarian play set
  • Book related T-Shirts for sale
  • C-Span book panel discussion goes out of control

    • Posted in RA Run Down | No Comments »

    Most Wanted Mashup

    Sunday, October 24th, 2010
    FICTION

    NONFICTION
    • Bill Bryson – At Home
    • Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow – The Grand Design
    • Jane Leavy – The Last Boy
    • Tucker Max – Assholes Finish First
    • Joyce Meyer - Power Thoughts
    • Bill O’Reilly – Pinheads and Patriots
    • Condoleezza Rice – Extraordinary Ordinary People
    • Michael Savage – Trickle Up Poverty
    • Jon Stewart – Earth (The Book)
    • Bob Woodward – Obama’s Wars


    MASS MARKET PAPERBACK ORIGINALS:
    • Lara Adrian – Taken by Midnight
    • Patricia Briggs – Masques
    • Janet Dailey – Santa in Montana
    • Madeline Hunter – Sinful in Satin
    • Sabrina Jeffries – A Hellion in Her Bed
    • Brenda Joyce – The Promise
    • Lora Leigh – Styx’s Storm
    • Susan Mallery - Finding Perfect
    • Kerrelyn Sparks – Eat Prey Love
    • J. R. Ward – Crave
      •

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    Under the Radar: New Business Titles You May Have Missed

    Sunday, October 24th, 2010
    • Anthony Bianco–The Big Lie: Spying, Scandal, and Ethical Collapse at Hewlett Packard
    • Tom Bower–Oil: Money, Politics, and Power in the 21st Century
    • Niall Ferguson–High Financier: The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg
    • Keith Gessen and Anonymous–Diary of a Very Bad Year: Confessions of an Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager
    • Alan Greenberg–The Rise and Fall of Bear Stearns
    • Chip Heath and Dan Heath–Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
    • Randall Lane–The Zeroes: My Misadventures in the Decade Wall Street Went Insane
    • Nicole LaPorte–The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called Dreamworks
    • Charlene Li–Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead
    • Nancy Lublin–Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business
    • Jeffrey Ma–The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big in Business
    • Harry Markopolos–No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller
    • Paco Underhill–What Women Want: The Global Marketplace Turns Female-Friendly
      •

    Posted in Under the Radar | No Comments »

    New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer

    Sunday, October 24th, 2010

    MONDAY NONFICTION

  • Nat Gertler – The Peanuts Collection: Treasures from the World’s Most Beloved Comic Strip – 9780316086103 – 75,000 copies
  • Amanda Hesser – The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century – 9780393061031 – 100,000 copies
  • Donald and Lillian Stokes – The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America – 9780316010504 – 60,000 copies

    • TUESDAY FICTION

  • Tasha Alexander – Dangerous To Know (Lady Emily) – 9780312383794 – 50,000 copies
  • Jim Butcher - Side Jobs (short stories) – 9780451463654 – 200,000 copies
  • Melissa De La Cruz – Misguided Angel (Blue Bloods) – 9781423121282
  • Kaitlyn Dunnett – The Corpse Wore Tartan (Liss MacCrimmon) – 9780758238795
  • Jane Gardam – God on the Rocks (reprint) – 9781933372761
  • Shelley Shepard Gray – Grace – 9780061990960 – 75,000 copies
  • John Grisham – The Confession – 9780385528047 – 2.8 million copies
  • Cynthia Keller – An Amish Christmas – 9780345523785 – 100,000 copies
  • Lisa Kleypas – Christmas at Friday Harbor - 9780312605865 (trade paper) – 250,000 copies
  • Anne Perry – A Christmas Odyssey – 9780345518583 – 50,000 copies
  • Shirley Rousseau – Murphy – Cat Coming Home (Joe Grey) – 9780061806933
  • Greg Rucka – The Last Run (Queen & Country) – 9780553804751
  • Stephanie Tyler – Lie With Me (Shadow Force) (mass market pb) – 9780440245964

    • TUESDAY NONFICTION

  • Glenn Beck and Kevin Balfe – Broke: The Plan to RestoreOur Trust, Truth and Treasure – 9781439187197 – 1,000,000 copies
  • J. K. Beck – When Wicked Craves – 9780440245797 – 200,000 copies
  • Dyan DeNapoli – The Great Penguin Rescue: 40,000 Penguins, a Devastating Oil Spill, and the Inspiring Story of the World’s Largest Animal Rescue – 9781439148174 – 100,000 copies
  • David Eisenhower and Julie Nixon Eisenhower – Going Home To Glory: A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961-1969 – 9781439190906 – 250,000 copies. One-day laydown
  • Joseph Ellis – First Family: Abigail and John Adams – 9780307269621 – 500,000 copies
  • Ina Garten – Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?: Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips – 9780307238764 – 1,000,000 copies
  • Ron LeGrand – The New Masters of Real Estate: Getting Deals Done in the New Economy
  • The New York Times Presents Smarter by Sunday: 52 Weekends of Essential Knowledge for the Curious Mind – 9780312571344 100,000 copies
  • Apolo Ohno – Zero Regrets – 9781451609066 – 350,000 copies
  • Keith Richards and James Fox – Life – 9780316034388 – 1,000,000 copies. One-day laydown
  • Rolling Stone Editors – The 90s: The Inside Stories from the Decade That Rocked - 9780061779206
  • Hazel Rowley – Franklin and Eleanor – 9780374158576 – 60,000 copies
  • Oliver Sacks – The Mind’s Eye – 9780307272089
  • Jessica Seinfeld – Double Delicious! – 9780061659331 – 350,000 copies. One-day laydown
  • FreeDarko – The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History – 9781608190836
  • Stephen Sondheim – Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes – 9780679439073
  • Kat Von D – The Tattoo Chronicles – 9780061953361
  • Nick Vujicic – Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life – 9780307589736 – 150,000 copies

    • WEDNESDAY NONFICTION

  • Ted Kerasote – Pukka: The Pup After Merle – 9780547386089 – 50,000 copies
  • Harold McGee – Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes

    • WEDNESDAY FICTION

  • Marcia Muller – Coming Back (Sharon McCone) – 9780446581066

    • THURSDAY FICTION

  • Iain M. Banks – Surface Detail – 9780316123402 – 50,000 copies

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