RA Run Down

May 20th, 2012

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. TRY THE FREE RA DATABASE based on Libraries Unlimited’s print Genreflecting Advisory series. Give it a whirl and let us know how you like it. We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment on any of our posts, or contact us at raoblog@lu.com. Also check out our free newsletter with more in-depth articles at Reader’s Advisor News.

By Cindy Orr and Sarah Statz Cords

New To the Bestseller Lists This Week:

FICTION

NONFICTION

GRAPHIC BOOKS



To Be Published Week of May 21, 2012:

Fiction

  • Ford, Richard- Canada
  • Lowell, Elizabeth – Beautiful Sacrifice
  • Robinson, Kim Stanley – 2312
  • Rucka, Greg – Alpha
  • Theroux, Paul – The Lower River
  • Nonfiction

  • Blehm, Eric – Fearless
  • Clarke, Peter – Mr. Churchill’s Profession
  • Figes, Orlando – Just Send Me Word
  • Keen, Andrew – Digital Vertigo
  • Powell, Colin L. – It Worked for Me
  • This is just a sample from our picks of the week. Scroll down or click here for the complete list.



    Summer Books of 2012

    Time to start thinking summer (vacation)! We’re compiling a list of articles profiling this year’s crop of Summer Books–look to the righthand column for our collection of links, or click here. As we find new lists, we’ll add them at the top of the column.



    News of the Week:

    Hot Titles and Trends

    The most well-read cities in America (according to Amazon)

    Everyone’s fighting all the wrong people

    The Los Angeles Times is ceasing publication of its Sunday magazine

    Have you taken this test? Find out how fast you read!

    Yet another round of truth vs. nonfiction stuff: this time starring David Sedaris

    The New Yorker revamps its online book coverage

    A new copyright agreement to worry about?

    Audiobooks: The pleasures of being read to

    An exploration of book recommendations

    CBS news video: Why romances are so hot

    What makes book reviewers (professional or otherwise) tick?

    EBook and Publishing News

    Amazon to sell new front-lit Kindle by July (to compete with the Nook)

    Amazon is ramping up hiring

    The Harry Potter deal: making Amazon’s anti-library stronger

    Breakfast at Tiffany’s to be issued as ebook

    Houghton Mifflin is headed for bankruptcy

    There is no rest for the weary (author, that is) in the ebook era

    Will Sony and their eReader survive?

    The business of cover blurbing

    Barnes and Noble #1 in online retail customer satisfaction

    Simon & Schuster settles with states over ebook pricing

    Liberty Magazine now a digitized collection available from Gale

    Pay to free a book

    US exports of books and ebooks are doing well



    Professional Development Opportunities:

    Contributions to ALA journal Endnotes sought

    Sign up today and Library Journal’s Barbara Hoffert will send you an email listing the hottest new titles previewed at BEA 2012

    Mystery Writers of America announces their signing and program lineup at BEA




    Books on Screen

    The Amazing Spider-Man: new images and video

    True Blood season 5: Trailer

    20th Century Fox options self-published sci-fi novel Wool

    Aaron Sorkin to adapt Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography for the big screen

    Superhero Smackdown: The Avengers’ box-office take blows past that of The Dark Knight

    Who’s going to direct the adaptation Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot?

    PBS documentary on romance novels to air in July

    Philip Roth’s American Pastoral being made into a movie (Roth is keeping busy–he’ll also be headlining the National Book Festival in Washington DC this year)

    Anthony Bourdain’s novel Bone in the Throat is set to become a movie

    The CW is promoting a new series: Arrow, based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow



    Awards

    Carnegie Medal for Excellence: Nominees announced

    Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Winner: Ellen DeGeneres

    NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award Winner: Karen Russell

    Independent Prize for Foreign Fiction Winner: Aharon Appelfeld

    James Tait Black Prizes: Shortlists

    Emily Dickinson First Book Award winner: Hailey Leithauser

    Romantic Novelists’ Association (UK) Romantic Novel of the Year Award winner

    The “Pinch Pulitzer” winner: David Foster Wallace

    Nebula Awards: Winners



    Authors

    Comic artist Ernie Chan: Obituary

    Carlos Fuentes: Obituary

    Jean Craighead George: Obituary

    Journalist and literary hoaxer Mike McGrady: Obituary

    John Updike’s childhood home has been bought by the John Updike Society

    D. J. MacHale makes deal to write a new YA science fiction trilogy

    Are writers no longer influenced by the classics?

    Sookie Stackhouse’s adventures coming to an end

    Cynthia Thayer has lost her family barn to a fire

    Orhan Pamuk opens his Museum of Innocence in Istanbul

    E.L. James responds to the news about libraries banning her books

    New book expected this fall from The Shack author

    A memoir is expected from Mark Zuckerberg’s former assistant

    New Mitch Albom novel in late summer

    The author of Between Shades of Grey is enjoying the mix-up with E.L. James’s erotic titles

    Harlan Ellison to republish his “juvenile delinquent fiction”

    Alain de Botton looking for ways to “highbrow up” pornography

    Weigh in on this one: Did Agatha Christie and Rudyard Kipling make Brits racist?



    Lists

    21 smart nonfiction titles for summer; also, 15 summer novels to enjoy

    USA Today Book Roundup: New mysteries/thrillers

    Ten feminist poets you should know

    Ten YA Books that Scarred Us For Life

    Publisher’s Weekly staffers offer their alternates to the Modern Library’s 100 Top Novels list (fourteen years after that list was released but hey, who’s counting?)

    Ten great books about cycling



    Lighthearted Links of the Week


    Literary cartoons

    50 Shades of Grey is even driving interest in…luxury condos?

    How to Kill a Book Club

    Neil Gaiman shares “secret freelancer knowledge” (video)

    Which library behavior do you think is worse?

    Everyday words that were invented by famous authors

    New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer

    May 17th, 2012

    To be published week of May 21 – May 27, 2012

    MONDAY NONFICTION

  • Wolff, Christoph – Mozart at the Gateway to His Fortune -9780393050707
  • TUESDAY FICTION

  • Barnes, Jennifer Lynn – Taken by Storm (Raised by Wolves series, Teen) – 9781606843192
  • Farris, Peter – Last Call for the Living – 9780765330079
  • Ford, Richard- Canada – 9780061692048
  • Izzo, Kim – The Jane Austen Marriage Manual (Trade Paper) – 9781250003454
  • Joinson, Suzanne – A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar – 9781608198115
  • Lowell, Elizabeth – Beautiful Sacrifice – 9780061629860
  • Modesitt, E. L., Jr. – Princeps (Imager Portfolio series #5) – 9780765330956
  • Nicolson, Juliet – Abdication – 9781451658835
  • Noel, Alyson – Fated (Soul Seekers series #1, Teen) – 9780312664855
  • Reynard, Sylvain – Gabriel’s Rapture – 9781936305520
  • Robinson, Kim Stanley – 2312 – 9780316098120
  • Rucka, Greg – Alpha – 9780316182287
  • Scott, Michael – The Enchantress (Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, Teen) – 9780385735353
  • Sheehan, Jacqueline – Picture This (Trade Paper) – 9780062008121
  • Theroux, Paul – The Lower River – 9780547746500
  • Webb, Katherine – The Unseen (Trade Paper) – 9780062077882
  • Wilson, F. Paul – Nightworld (Adversary Cycle series #6) – 9780765321671
  • TUESDAY NONFICTION

  • Blehm, Eric – Fearless – 9780307730695
  • Clarke, Peter – Mr. Churchill’s Profession – 9781608193721
  • Cohen, Ari Seth – Advanced Style – 9781576875926
  • Dionne, E. J. – Our Divided Political Heart – 9781608192014
  • Faber, Urijah – The Laws of the Ring – 9780062112408
  • Fallon, Jimmy – Thank You Notes 2 (Sound Chip in Cover) Trade Paper – 9780892967360
  • Ferguson, Charles – Predator Nation – 9780307952554
  • Figes, Orlando – Just Send Me Word – 9780805095227
  • Ingle, Bob – Chris Christie – 9781250005861
  • Keen, Andrew – Digital Vertigo – 9780312624989
  • Morrissey, Rick – Ozzie’s School of Management – 9780805095005
  • Powell, Colin L. – It Worked for Me – 9780062135124
  • Romano, Carlin – America the Philosophical – 9780679434702
  • Schiff, Peter – The Real Crash – 9781250004475
  • Westin, David – Exit Interview – 9780374151218
  • Zevin, Dan – Dan Gets a Minivan -9781451606461
  • Zizek, Slajov – Less Than Nothing – 9781844678976
  • THURSDAY FICTION

  • Dastgir, Rosie – A Small Fortune – 9781594488108
  • Schillinger, Liesl – Every Day, Every Hour – 978067002350
  • Wallentin, Jan – Strindberg’s Star – 9780670023578
  • RA Run Down

    May 13th, 2012

    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. TRY THE FREE RA DATABASE based on Libraries Unlimited’s print Genreflecting Advisory series. Give it a whirl and let us know how you like it. We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment on any of our posts, or contact us at raoblog@lu.com. Also check out our free newsletter with more in-depth articles at Reader’s Advisor News.

    By Cindy Orr and Sarah Statz Cords

    New To the Bestseller Lists This Week:

    FICTION

    NONFICTION

    GRAPHIC BOOKS



    To Be Published Week of May 14, 2012:

    Fiction

  • Berry, Steve – The Columbus Affair
  • Carey, Peter – The Chemistry of Tears
  • Mieville, China – Railsea
  • Sandford, John – Stolen Prey
  • Nonfiction

  • Bissinger, Buzz – Father’s Day
  • Donovan, James – The Blood of Heroes
  • Pausch, Jai – Dream New Dreams
  • Sykes, Bryan – DNA USA
  • Thornton, Billy Bob – The Billy Bob Tapes
  • This is just a sample from our picks of the week. Scroll down or click here for the complete list.



    Summer Books of 2012

    Time to start thinking summer (vacation)! We’re compiling a list of articles profiling this year’s crop of Summer Books–look to the righthand column for our collection of links, or click here. As we find new lists, we’ll add them at the top of the column.



    News of the Week:


    Hot Titles and Trends

    Fifty Shades of Grey pulled from Florida libraries

    Literary agent charges that the Department of Justice has a “bizarre misunderstanding of ebooks”

    The most read books in the world

    Here’s a new take in reality TV: America’s next top writer!

    Nearly two-thirds of Americans are using their smartphones for “just in time” information

    Illiteracy in America

    Fictional characters and their influence on “real life”

    Thank goodness for the Internet when it comes to book reviewing

    Marvel has a new X-Men product in the works

    Are you ready for the “new Bing”?

    Reading the ending first

    Library and Bookstore News

    A new model for library ebook buying? (Meanwhile, Houston Libraries are experiencing explosive ebook use growth)

    A new role for libraries: genius bars?

    How much does the library save its users?

    ALA offers new service to text advocacy alerts to librarians

    MobyLives investigates the reinvention of libraries

    Some big names are not best pleased about the New York Public Library revamp

    A closer look at bookstore book blogs

    Fly the friendly skies: Tattered Cover may be opening bookstores in the Denver Airport

    Publishing and EBook Headlines

    New trends in publishing: agile methodology

    Revenues are down at Harlequin

    Simon & Schuster relaunches imprint dedicated to ebooks

    Fodor’s updates its City Guides for iPhones and iPads

    Ebooks as credit card loyalty rewards

    Marvel opens new Digital Comics
    Shop

    Christian literary agency to launch own e-publishing concern

    Amazon’s creative global ebook pricing

    App publishing

    Sourcebooks has had a good year

    Facebook now in the app-selling business

    Amazon getting ready to release color Kindle?

    Harry Potter books to be included in Amazon’s Kindle Lending program

    Ebooks are going strong in Russia

    Will Amazon grow bored with publishing?

    Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is restructuring its debt



    Professional Development Opportunities:


    Call for papers: Internet Reference Services Quarterly

    RUSA Webinars: Proposals sought

    PLA will host three preconferences for public librarians at ALA Annual




    Books on Screen


    The Avengers hits a billion dollars at the box office

    Chelsea Cain’s books may soon be coming to a TV near you

    On the Road movie scheduled for this fall

    The top 10 grossing comic book movies of all time

    Ender’s Game launches film blog

    Sean Bean: a man who likes appearing in literary adaptations



    Awards


    Ondaatje Prize: Shortlist

    Children’s Choice 2012 Awards

    Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction: Shortlist

    National Magazine Awards: Winners

    2012 James Beard Awards: Winners

    Best Translated Book Award for Fiction winner: Wieslaw Mysliwski

    Wolfson History Prizes: Winners

    Blogging the 2012 Caine Prize: bloggers read through the shortlist

    Midland Authors Awards: Winners

    Macmillan Prize to incorporate digital category

    The New York Times tries to award its own Pulitzer for fiction




    Authors


    Memoirist Angelica Garnett: Obituary

    Maurice Sendak: Obituary (and you can watch uncensored clips from his last Colbert Report interview‘ visit The Millions page about remembering Sendak)

    Jacquelyn Mitchard to head new young adult fiction imprint

    New title expected from Bernhard Schlink

    Erotica author E. L. James is enjoying her newfound success

    Read the first chapter of Ed Falco’s Godfather prequel at Publishers’ Weekly

    Glenn Beck launches ebook series

    James Joyce’s handwritten manuscripts now available online

    Rick Riordan to work on new series about the Norse gods

    Max Allan Collins defines “hardboiled” for you

    Ann Coulter will have a new book out in October




    Lists


    May audiobook release roundup

    Look inside Toni Morrison’s 10 novels

    Maurice Sendak: Essential quotes

    Ten books that should be challenged instead of Fifty Shades of Grey

    The Summer 2012 Kids’ Indie list



    Lighthearted Links of the Week


    Want to know who’s reading what, where, right now?

    Advice columns from famous authors that we’d love to read

    Extremely silly photos of extremely serious authors

    Maurice Sendak, 1928-2012

    May 8th, 2012

    Children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, who won the 1964 Caldecott Medal for the picture book Where the Wild Things Are (and who wrote numerous other picture books and works), has died at age 83.

    RA Run Down

    May 6th, 2012

    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. TRY THE FREE RA DATABASE based on Libraries Unlimited’s print Genreflecting Advisory series. Give it a whirl and let us know how you like it. We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment on any of our posts, or contact us at raoblog@lu.com. Also check out our free newsletter with more in-depth articles at Reader’s Advisor News.

    By Cindy Orr and Sarah Statz Cords

    New To the Bestseller Lists This Week:

    FICTION

    NONFICTION

    GRAPHIC BOOKS



    To Be Published Week of May 6, 2012:

    Fiction

  • Archer, Jeffrey – The Sins of the Father
  • Clark, Marcia – Guilt by Degrees
  • Evans, Richard Paul – The Road to Grace
  • Irving, John – In One Person
  • Mantel, Hilary – Bring Up the Bodies
  • Morrison, Toni – Home
  • Patterson, James – 11th Hour
  • Nonfiction

  • Allen, Will – The Good Food Revolution
  • Brinkley, Alan – John F. Kennedy
  • Burroughs, Augusten – This Is How
  • Guttenberg, Steve – The Guttenberg Bible
  • Hendrix, Leon – Jimi Hendrix
  • Lewis, Bernard – Notes on a Century
  • Luttrell, Marcus – Service
  • Sheen, Martin – Along the Way
  • Smoltz, John – Starting and Closing
  • Somers, Suzanne – Bombshell
  • This is just a sample from our picks of the week. Scroll down or click here for the complete list.



    Summer Books of 2012

    Time to start thinking summer (vacation)! We’re compiling a list of articles profiling this year’s crop of Summer Books–look to the righthand column for our collection of links, or click here. As we find new lists, we’ll add them at the top of the column.



    News of the Week:

    Hot Titles and Trends

    Just finding the book can land you in shades of grey: meet the book being mistaken for the erotica phenomenon

    How young is too young for the Hunger Games?

    DC Comics debuts “Second Wave”

    Books-A-Million chairman and family owners make a bid to buy up all the public stock in the company

    The New York Times wants you to get young readers into reading nonfiction

    What the death of print newspapers means for writers

    Amazon to develop original TV programming

    The public library as community center

    Newspaper paywalls are starting to pay off

    Where are today’s literary nomads?

    When cover design includes ads

    Is “trust the new black” when it comes to regulating social networks?

    May is Short Story Month

    Ebook and Publishing News

    Microsoft’s investment in the Nook, by the numbers (or this one: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/04/barnes-noble-spins-off-nook-ereader-300-million-from-microsoft.html)

    Sesame Street ebook subscription service for libraries now available from Ingram

    Tablets: more popular than e-readers?

    Another content source for ebooks: screenplays

    Storytime app an e-bookstore for kids?

    Amazon’s latest petty salvo in the war on ebook pricing

    A new look for Ebsco’s ebook platform

    Rising ebook sales make up for lagging paperback sales

    Frommer to offer interactive travel ebooks

    Target at odds with Amazon over Kindle

    Ebook borrowing surging in Florida libraries

    Library tries to reason with publishers…through its website

    Everyone wants in on the e-publishing action: Booktango service offers authors 100% of the royalties on books they publish before July 4

    Now being offered to schools: Nooks loaded with educational content

    New romance ebook portal

    Google vs. Authors Guild

    Pottermore on track to have a $60 million year

    Are ebooks driving revenue for print books?

    The newest ebook market set to boom: Taiwan



    Professional Development Opportunities:


    Free library continuing education resources, in a list provided by the Texas State Library

    Free webcast: Christian Fiction Spring Book Buzz (Thursday, May 10)

    Mediabistro to host literary festival: entirely online!

    Going to BEA? Consider speed dating for book club picks

    Going to ALA Annual? Consider joining Nancy Pearl for the Andrew Carnegie Medal Awards Ceremony

    Booklist is looking for crime fiction book reviewers

    Call for authors: for book titled Time Organization for Librarians

    Call for authors: for book titled Handling Job Stress: Tips By Librarians




    Books on Screen


    HBO has passed on a small-screen adaptation of Jonathan Franzen’s novel The Corrections

    Literary adaptations did well in the MTV Movie Award nominations

    Amazing Spider-Man: Trailer

    The Wolf of Wall Street: more casting news

    The Avengers has a record-breaking opening weekend



    Awards


    Caine Prize: Shortlist

    Elizabeth Longford Prize winner: Frances Wilson (for her book How to Survive the Titanic or The Sinking of Bruce J. Ismay)

    Ben Lerner: wins the Believer Book Award

    The Comedy Awards 2012

    Neal Wyatt: wins the Monroe Award for Adult Library Services!

    David Graeber wins the 2012 Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing

    Arthur C. Clarke Award winner: Jane Rogers

    Are book awards important?

    Kansas City librarians step up to fill the Pulitzer Prize for fiction void



    Authors

    Horror author Michael Louis Calvillo: Obituary

    Norman Fruman (biographer of Samuel Taylor Coleridge): Obituary

    Journalist and novelist Bill Granger: Obituary

    Perseus Books Founder Frank Pearl: Obituary

    Journalist and novelist Tom Wicker: Obituary

    Harper Lee: gets Harper Lee Award

    His charity got some money back, but his readers won’t: judge dismisses civil lawsuit against Greg Mortenson

    Stephen King okay with taxing the rich, himself included (and, he’s got a few words–some of them swear words–to say on the subject in an essay at The Daily Beast)

    Jeanette Winterson: on the Bat Segundo show

    Sale on Paulo Coelho! Many of his ebooks now priced at .99

    Neil Gaiman shares his reading habits

    Who are the newest members of the author’s Millionaire’s Club?

    Jim Davis talks Garfield




    Lists


    25 books for a child’s library

    Books written by celebrity animals

    Ten of the best memoirs about mothers

    Top ten graphic memoirs

    Five award-winning mystery novels for young adults

    New York Times: Editors’ Choices for the week

    A beginner’s guide to crime fiction



    Lighthearted Links of the Week


    Literary favorites illustrated, Muppet-style!

    Ellen Degeneres reads 50 Shades of Grey

    How to write a Booker Prize-winning novel

    RA Run Down

    April 29th, 2012

    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. TRY THE FREE RA DATABASE based on Libraries Unlimited’s print Genreflecting Advisory series. Give it a whirl and let us know how you like it. We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment on any of our posts, or contact us at raoblog@lu.com. Also check out our free newsletter with more in-depth articles at Reader’s Advisor News.

    By Cindy Orr and Sarah Statz Cords

    New To the Bestseller Lists This Week:

    FICTION

    NONFICTION

    GRAPHIC BOOKS



    To Be Published Week of April 30, 2012:

    Fiction

  • Atkins, Ace – Robert B. Parker’s Lullaby
  • Bolano, Roberto – The Secret of Evil
  • Bacigalupi, Paolo – The Drowned Cities
  • Balogh, Mary – The Proposal
  • Harris, Charlaine – Deadlocked
  • Kenyon, Sherrilyn – Born of Silence
  • Roberts, Nora – The Last Boyfriend (Trade Paper)
  • Roby, Kimberla Lawson- The Reverend’s Wife
  • Saramago, Jose – Manual of Painting and Calligraphy (Trade Paper)
  • Nonfiction

  • Allman, Gregg – My Cross to Bear
  • Bechdel, Alison – Are You My Mother?
  • Borneman, Walter R. – The Admirals
  • Caro, Robert A. – The Passage of Power
  • Coll, Steve – Private Empire
  • Goldberg, Jonah – The Tyranny of Cliches
  • Krugman, Paul – End This Depression Now!
  • Lancaster, Jen – Jeneration X
  • O’Neal, Ryan – Both of Us
  • Rather, Dan – Rather Outspoken
  • This is just a sample from our picks of the week. Scroll down or click here for the complete list.



    Summer Books of 2012

    Time to start thinking summer (vacation)! We’re compiling a list of articles profiling this year’s crop of Summer Books–look to the righthand column for our collection of links, or click here. As we find new lists, we’ll add them at the top of the column.



    News of the Week:


    Ebook and Publishing News

    DOJ copycat lawsuits (Summary of the case thus far)

    What does it really cost to make an ebook?

    Ebooks and apps a big part of tablet business

    Ebooks in libraries

    When old meets new: Historical romance trending in ebooks

    Can’t wait for your new Barnes and Noble “Read in the Dark” Nook? You won’t have to; they’re shipping early

    Publisher Tor/Forge plunging ahead and publishing ebooks by July that do not have Digital Rights Management

    Foreign language Harry Potter ebooks now for sale

    Best of apps and enhanced books: April edition

    How many Brits own ebooks?

    Can literary fiction survive the ebook age?

    New erotic romance ebook imprint coming from Harper Collins

    A Few Amazon News Snippets

    Is Amazon morally wrong but legally right?

    Consumers’ favorite book recommender: Amazon?

    How books will survive Amazon

    Trends and Talking Points

    Open content and school libraries

    Teach the books, touch the heart

    Even the Internet is getting its own novel book deal

    Titanic anniversary is driving book sales

    Mein Kampf being published in Germany…seventy years after it first appeared there

    Trending: social reading

    New York Public Library changes

    Are novels today gutless?

    Coming in May: books by celebrities galore!

    Anniversaries

    Little, Brown turns 175!

    Spider-Man turns fifty



    Professional Development Opportunities:


    ALA asks librarians to oppose CISPA

    Leverage yourself as an expert using social media

    Pinterest Webinar (from the Ohio Library Council) to be held on May 22

    ARRT program on ebook RA




    Books on Screen


    Hemingway and Gellhorn trailer (to air on HBO May 28)

    Think Like a Man (based on Steve Harvey’s book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man), knocks Hunger Games out of top money-earning spot

    Charlie Kaufman to adapt new “Hunger Games-esque” films

    True Blood Season 5: teaser trailer

    Lawless, based on the novel The Wettest Country in the World: Trailer

    Baz Luhrman’s cinematic take on The Great Gatsby

    Report from CinemaCon: Will Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit be disappointing?

    The Avengers does well overseas



    Awards


    Agatha Award Winners 2012

    Free samples of the LA Times Book Award winners

    Irma Black Award winner

    Orwell Prize: Shortlist

    Commonwealth Book Prize: Shortlist

    Did fiction NOT winning a Pulitzer help book sales?

    CrimeFest Awards: Shortlist

    2012 Edgar Awards: Winners

    Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards (Australia): to cease in 2012




    Authors


    Children’s author Leila Berg: Obituary

    Ernest “Chick” Callenbach: Obituary

    Biographer Virginia Spencer Carr: Obituary

    Science fiction author Kathy (“K.D.”) Wentworth: Obituary

    Scottish crime writer Shona MacLean becomes S.G. MacLean–to appeal more to men readers

    Jonah Lehrer: On the Bat Segundo Show

    A Henry David Thoreau video game? There’s a grant for that

    How do you get to know Edgar Allan Poe? Read his stuff

    What is Dave Eggers up to now?

    Tom Hanks to narrate Stephen Colbert audiobook

    Alison Bechdel: Interview (with Maud Newton)

    Maya Angelou: named Presidential Medal of Freedom Honoree

    Milan Kundera: fifteen new audiobooks to be published

    Larry McMurtry: hosting a book auction this August at his bookstore




    Lists


    Indie Science Fiction and Fantasy bestseller list

    Ten great books about young women

    Read everything by Roberto Bolano? Consider ” Other Great Latino Authors”

    Ten books starring cities

    Ten best self-help books of all time



    Lighthearted Links of the Week

    67 books every geek should read to their kid

    Ten grumpiest living writers

    Is that a poem in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

    Ten gorgeous buildings made out of books

    RA Run Down

    April 22nd, 2012

    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. TRY THE FREE RA DATABASE based on Libraries Unlimited’s print Genreflecting Advisory series. Give it a whirl and let us know how you like it. We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment on any of our posts, or contact us at raoblog@lu.com. Also check out our free newsletter with more in-depth articles at Reader’s Advisor News.

    By Cindy Orr and Sarah Statz Cords

    New To the Bestseller Lists This Week:

    FICTION

    NONFICTION

    GRAPHIC BOOKS



    To Be Published Week of April 23, 2012:

    Fiction

  • Alvarez, Julia – A Wedding in Haiti – 9781616201302
  • Bolano, Roberto – The Secret of Evil – 9780811218153
  • Hocking, Amanda – Ascend (Trylle Trilogy #3) – 9781250006332
  • King, Stephen – The Wind Through the Keyhole – 9781451658903
  • Nonfiction

  • Albright, Madeleine – Prague Winter – 9780062030313
  • Covey, Sean – The 4 Disciplines of Execution – 9781451627053
  • Draper, Robert – Do Not Ask What Good We Do – 9781451642087
  • Franzen, Jonathan – Farther Away: Essays – 9780374153571
  • Obama, Auma – And Then Life Happens – 9781250010056
  • Quindlen, Anna – Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake – 9781400069347
  • Taraborrelli, J. Randy – After Camelot – 9780446553902
  • This is just a sample from our picks of the week. Scroll down or click here for the complete list.



    Forthcoming Books of 2012

    We’re still compiling lists of 2012 book previews. Look to the right hand column for our collection of links, or click here. As we find new lists, we’ll add them at the top of the column.



    News of the Week:


    Ebook and Publishing News

    The Department of Justice (DOJ) ebook/price-fixing story continues: how involved was Amazon in the instigation of the suit? (Elsewhere, MobyLives wonders, is Amazon a monopoly?)

    Still not quite sure what the DOJ/ebook price-fixing/lawsuit story is all about? MobyLives recaps for you

    Confused about all the ebook pricing debates? So are consumers

    Ebook pricing lawsuit mania strikes Canada!

    In other Amazon ebook news, the company might have an ebook impostor problem

    How is cutting off Amazon working out for EDC?

    Amazon acquires rights to Ian Fleming’s Bond books; will release them as ebooks this summer–what will Barnes and Noble do about it?

    What is the Amazon recommendation engine really suggesting?

    What’s the ceiling on ebook adoption?

    Is distributing books through libraries good for sales? ebrary says yes

    Technology and Reading

    For parents who want to know what their kids are reading: there’s an app for that!

    Read It Later app now called Pocket

    What city buys the most Kindles?

    Trends and Talking Points

    New site for LA Review of Books

    New York Public Library director is taking reader questions

    Do all bestsellers share twelve attributes?

    Worldly titles for book groups

    Fifty Shades of Grey is officially mainstream

    Volunteers are getting ready for World Book Night (April 23)

    American poets on forever stamps

    What makes a book a book?



    Professional Development Opportunities:


    Take part in public library ebook research (in conjunction with Pew Internet)!

    Check out the Historical Novel Society’s new website!

    Webinars and books and reviews, oh my! May is Mystery Books Month at Booklist Online




    Books on Screen


    The Hunger Games sequel has found a director!

    James Patterson’s “Private” series coming soon to a television near you

    Film version of “The Wolf of Wall Street” to star Leonardo DiCaprio

    Novelist sues video game company



    Awards


    Wow, a busy (and somewhat contentious) week in award news.

    Big news: no Pulitzer is awarded for fiction this year (Here, The Morning News weighs in on the “Great Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Brouhaha of 2012″)

    Speaking of, here’s the full list of 2012 Pulitzer Prize winners (for books); (The Huffington Post has won its first Pulitzer Prize)

    Independent Foreign Fiction Award: shortlist

    2012 Hugo nominee short stories: available online!

    Orange Prize: shortlist

    Orion Book Award: Finalists

    Spring 2012 New Voices titles announced

    New young person’s book award sponsored by The Guardian

    Going to ALA in June? Stop in to see the new Andrew Carnegie Awards awarded for fiction and nonfiction

    Vote for your favorite book bloggers!




    Authors


    Doris Betts: Obituary

    Lewis Nordan: Obituary

    Dora Saint (Miss Read): Obituary

    J.K. Rowling’s next project: a Harry Potter encyclopedia

    Metallica is getting a two-volume biography!

    The Girl with the Dragon Tatto: the graphic novel!

    Pippa Middleton’s book is coming out in October (will it be #1 with a bullet?–couldn’t resist)

    Pseudonymous Bosch lands new book deal

    A match made in literary heaven? Dickens descendant reads audio version of story by Tolkien descendant

    E.L. James makes Time 100 list

    New novel coming from Jonathan Safran Foer

    Greg Mortenson’s legal troubles aren’t over yet

    “S*** Girls Say” gets book deal

    Stephenie Meyer: film producer

    Cassandra Clare and Holly Black to collaborate on new series

    Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) to write novel




    Lists


    Ten of the most hilarious memoirs you’ll ever read

    Ten great books to read aloud



    Lighthearted Links of the Week


    The 25 most beautiful public libraries in the world

    Book sculpting

    Book jewelry business

    Star in your favorite novel! (For a mere $24.95.)

    Bookmobiles from around the world

    RA Run Down

    April 15th, 2012

    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. TRY THE FREE RA DATABASE based on Libraries Unlimited’s print Genreflecting Advisory series. Give it a whirl and let us know how you like it. We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment on any of our posts, or contact us at raoblog@lu.com. Also check out our free newsletter with more in-depth articles at Reader’s Advisor News.

    By Cindy Orr and Sarah Statz Cords

    New To the Bestseller Lists This Week:

    FICTION


    NONFICTION



    To Be Published Week of April 15, 2012:

    Fiction

  • Baldacci, David – The Innocent – 9780446572996
  • Boyd, William – Waiting for Sunrise – 9780061876769
  • Dickey, Eric Jerome – An Accidental Affair – 9780525952343
  • James, E. L. – Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades Trilogy #2) – 9780345803498
  • James, E. L. – Fifty Shades Freed (Fifty Shades Trilogy #3) – 9780345803504
  • Johansen, Iris – What Doesn’t Kill You – 9780312651237
  • Roberts, Nora – The Witness – 9780399159121
  • Swift, Graham – Wish You Were Here – 9780307700124
  • Woods, Stuart – Unnatural Acts – 9780399158865
  • Nonfiction

  • Krist, Gary – City of Scoundrels – 9780307454294
  • Lake, Ricki – Never Say Never – 9781451627176
  • Lawson, Jenny – Let’s Pretend This Never Happened – 9780399159015
  • This is just a sample from our picks of the week. Scroll down or click here for the complete list.



    Forthcoming Books of 2012

    We’re still compiling lists of 2012 book previews. Look to the right hand column for our collection of links, or click here. As we find new lists, we’ll add them at the top of the column.



    News of the Week:


    Ebook and Publishing News

    The big news of the week, of course, is about the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Apple and several publishers, charging them with fixing the prices of ebooks. For an introduction to the story, read this informative summary. The Melville House blog discusses how indie booksellers are against the suit, which the author argues is pro-Amazon. At the Wall Street Journal, the antitrust suit’s outcome on Barnes and Noble is discussed; publishers and the ABA weigh in on the case as well. And now: states are getting in on the action too.

    But what does the above all mean for consumers? Considerably more than chump change

    And what is Amazon doing during all this? The company’s ebook pricing strategy

    Librarians and authors to start discussions of their own about ebook lending; is it true that publishers and libraries just don’t understand each other? Also: does lack of ebook lending put all free access to information at risk?

    Baker and Taylor to provide audio digital books to libraries

    Amazon’s digital sales up 29% in 2012 first quarter

    Coming soon: Amazon Appstore

    New features on Barnes and Noble’s latest Nook

    Trends and Talking Points

    ALA releases list of most challenged books of 2011

    Pottermore is open for business!

    Amazon exposed!

    Don’t throw stones if you live in a glass factory: Barnes and Noble won’t say much about working conditions in its Nook factories

    A new role for librarians? Help your patrons do a digital detox!

    Want to peruse an original Gutenberg Bible? Soon you’ll be able to, online!

    Not a big fan of profanity in picture books? Go the F–k to Sleep gets a new title

    New York Times debuts new “By the Book” feature

    Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans rejoice: new graphic novel series featuring Spike and Willow to be released

    Magazines still in a slump

    Keeping track of your reading

    Social media news: Facebook acquires photo-sharing service Instagram

    YouTube partners with Hearst Magazines for more “professional content”



    Professional Development Opportunities:


    PLA Ebooks 101 Webinar (April 17)

    Check out all of PLA’s upcoming webinars, focusing on ebooks

    PLA 2012 wrap-up

    The social job search

    Doing Readers’ Advisory for ebooks




    Books on Screen


    If you can’t wait to see Ender’s Game, this will be bad news: movie pushed back until November 2013

    Game of Thrones picked up for third season

    Hunger Games sequel will need a new director

    AMC developing a new show based on a comic from Walking Dead author Robert Kirkman

    The Hunger Games is tops at the box office for the fourth straight week

    Maggie Smith is ready to be done with Downton Abbey



    Awards


    Eisner Award: Nominees

    Hugo Awards: Finalists

    Best Translated Book Awards: Finalists

    2012 IMPAC Award: shortlist

    2012 Audie Awards: Finalists

    2012 Guggenheim Fellows list

    BookRiot asks: which book award has the best backlist?




    Authors


    Christine Brooke-Rose: Obituary

    Historian Kenneth Libo: Obituary

    Katherine Russell Rich, author of well-known cancer memoir: Obituary

    Author and publisher Nick Webb (who helped bring about Douglas Adams’s novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, has died

    Former poet laureate Reed Whittemore: Obituary

    J.K. Rowling’s book for adults, A Casual Vacancy, due out Sep. 27. Here’s the plot summary.

    Twilight director Chris Weitz to write YA novels

    New book from Pulitzer Prize-winner Herman Wouk coming

    The last of William Manchester’s books on Winston Churchill to be published…eight years after Manchester’s death

    Jules Feiffer to write graphic novel

    A real-life Downton Abbey memoir on the way?

    Novelist William Boyd to pen next 007 title

    Stephen King’s newest release: a Southern gothic musical?

    Ten of the most “bad-ass contemporary American poets”

    Dr. Phil’s diet plan




    Lists


    Ten contemporary Southern authors you should be reading

    Best books on Abraham Lincoln

    Titanic Reads (at RA for All); and a list of helpful Titanic resource sites



    Lighthearted Links of the Week


    Celebrate April as National Poetry Month: 10 Poems You Can Memorize Today

    Seven degrees of Michiko Kakutani

    Most frequently shoplifted books

    The most commonly misunderstood fantasy creatures

    New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer

    April 12th, 2012

    To be published week of April 16 – April 22, 2012

    TUESDAY FICTION

  • Adams, Alex – White Horse – 9781451642995
  • Baldacci, David – The Innocent – 9780446572996
  • Boyd, William – Waiting for Sunrise – 9780061876769
  • Cash, Wiley – A Land More Kind Than Home – 9780062088147
  • Dickey, Eric Jerome – An Accidental Affair – 9780525952343
  • James, E. L. – Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades Trilogy #2) – 9780345803498
  • James, E. L. – Fifty Shades Freed (Fifty Shades Trilogy #3) – 9780345803504
  • Johansen, Iris – What Doesn’t Kill You – 9780312651237
  • Raichev, R. T. – Murder of Gonzago – 9781616950866
  • Roberts, Nora – The Witness – 9780399159121
  • Swift, Graham – Wish You Were Here – 9780307700124
  • Woods, Stuart – Unnatural Acts – 9780399158865
  • TUESDAY NONFICTION

  • Acosta, Hipolito – The Shadow Catcher – 9781451632873
  • Beyer, Marcel, translated by Alan Bance – Kaltenburg – 9780151013975
  • Bordewich, Fergus M. – America’s Great Debate – 9781439124604
  • Douthat, Ross – Bad Religion – 9781439178300
  • Gibbs, Nancy – The Presidents Club – 9781439127704
  • Guadagnino, Vinny – Control the Crazy – 9780307987242
  • Knauer, Ian – The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food – 9780547516912
  • Krist, Gary – City of Scoundrels – 9780307454294
  • Lake, Ricki – Never Say Never – 9781451627176
  • Lawson, Jenny – Let’s Pretend This Never Happened – 9780399159015
  • Lind, Michael – Land of Promise – 9780061834806
  • Moushey, Bill, and Bob Dvorchak – Game Over: Jerry Sandusky, Penn State, and the Culture of Silence – 9780062201133
  • Robbins, Jim – The Man Who Planted Trees – 9781400069064
  • Samuels, Allison – What Would Michelle Do? – 9781592407088
  • Sykes, Christopher Simon – David Hockney – 9780385531443
  • Ung, Loung – Lulu in the Sky (Trade Paper) – 9780062091918
  • Wagner, Tony – Creating Innovators – 9781451611496
  • Williams, Vanessa – You Have No Idea – 9781592407071
  • RA Run Down

    April 8th, 2012

    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. TRY THE FREE RA DATABASE based on Libraries Unlimited’s print Genreflecting Advisory series. Give it a whirl and let us know how you like it. We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment on any of our posts, or contact us at raoblog@lu.com. Also check out our free newsletter with more in-depth articles at Reader’s Advisor News.

    By Cindy Orr and Sarah Statz Cords

    New To the Bestseller Lists This Week:

    FICTION

    NONFICTION


    GRAPHIC BOOKS




    To Be Published Week of April 8, 2012:

    Fiction

  • Grahame-Smith, Seth – Unholy Night – 9780446563093
  • Grisham, John – Calico Joe – 9781444744644
  • Hamilton, Laurell K. – Vampire Hunter: Circus of the Damned, Book 3: The Scoundrel (Anita Blake graphic novel) – 9780785146926
  • Rash, Ron - The Cove – 9780061804199
  • Scottoline, Lisa – Come Home – 9780312380823
  • Nonfiction

  • Clegg, Bill – Ninety Days – 9780316122528
  • Jacobs, A. J. – Drop Dead Healthy – 9781416599074
  • King, Carole – A Natural Woman – 9781455512614
  • Meltzer, Brad – Heroes for My Daughter – 9780061905261
  • Williams, Terry Tempest- When Women Were Birds – 9780374288976
  • Wilson, Edward O. – The Social Conquest of Earth – 9780871404138
  • This is just a sample from our picks of the week. Scroll down or click here for the complete list.



    Forthcoming Books of 2012

    We’re still compiling lists of spring 2012 book previews. Look to the right hand column for our collection of links, or click here. As we find new lists, we’ll add them at the top of the column.



    News of the Week:


    HAPPY NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK! (April 8 to 14)

    Ebook and Publishing News

    New iPad app for indie stories

    A closer look at the ebook Freading service

    Canadian libraries stop buying Random House ebooks; Connecticut consortium has the same idea

    Baker & Taylor to offer ebooks for another platform (Azpen Android tablets)

    For the digitally connected junior set: New Dr. Seuss and Berenstain Bears apps

    Google no longer offering ebooks through Powell’s; is “Google becoming another Amazon”?, and what does that mean for indie bookstores?

    Ebook price-fixing investigation news

    Harry Potter: not only the hero of Hogwarts, but also very downloadable

    Do boys value reading more if it’s Ereading?

    Trends and Talking Points

    Pew report: “The Rise of Ereading”; commentary on the report

    Your newest self-publishers: teens and tweens

    “Extending the life of bookstores is difficult…”

    Is social media making reading a better or worse experience?

    Elegy for bookmobiles

    Trending: All things French

    Are digital cookbooks ready for the next level?

    Apps enable readers to “read it later”

    People still like print for reading to kids

    Fifty Shades of Grey goes audio; also, Fifty Shades of Grey parody signed

    The Digital Public Library: predicted to open in April 2013

    Ebook readers=bigger readers?

    Amazon headlines

    Amazon to publishers: deeper discounts, or else

    Amazon pursues “tax avoidance” in the U.K. as well

    Amazon launches Kindle en Espanol

    Barnes and Noble will still stock Marshall Cavendish books (after spat with Amazon)



    Professional Development Opportunities:


    Tip: how to search Google by reading level

    The ALA Notable Videos for Adults Committee has vacancies to fill! For more information visit http://www.ala.org/vrt/notablevideos

    Upcoming Booklist webinars: What’s New with Graphic Novels (April 10); Hot Mysteries for Spring (April 24)

    Win $5000 for your library!

    Computers in Libraries 2012 conference report

    Readers Advisory 101: registration ends Thursday, April 12

    PLA Webinar: Public Librarians’ Guide to EBooks (first one is April 17)

    Events for librarians and educators at BookExpo America

    YALSA online course on “Managing the Swarm: Teen Behavior in the Library and Strategies for Success” (April 24)

    Forthcoming Online Learning with RUSA courses




    Books on Screen


    Game on Thrones has strong ratings for season premiere

    Potted Potter parody play to open on Broadway

    Downton Abbey season 3: SPOILERS!



    Awards


    Bram Stoker Awards announced

    International Thriller Awards: And the nominees are…

    TV version of Game of Thrones wins Peabody Award

    2012 National Magazine Award: Finalists

    Indie Choice; E.B. White Read-Aloud awards announced; read free samples of the winners




    Authors


    Antonio Tabucchi: Obituary

    Literary scholar and editor Edmund Epstein: Obituary

    Playwright John Arden: Obituary

    Book designer (and author) Chip Kidd speaks at TED 2012

    Memoirs to come from Carrie Brownstein and Rita Moreno

    Alain de Botton on the Bat Segundo Show

    I wonder what she thinks of this headline: Is Ann Patchett the female Jonathan Franzen?

    First-time authors, just ask John Grisham: keep a few of your first edition first novels

    Help write Nicholas Sparks’s new book!

    Lauren Oliver to write first adult book

    Greg Mortensen ordered to pay $1 million to charity he founded

    Controversial poetry, by Günter Grass, just in time for April as Poetry Month




    Lists


    Best books of 2012 (so far)



    Lighthearted Links of the Week


    Well, it’s kind of a Downton Abbey link (most famous estates in British period drama history)

    Comic book heroes who should never have their own movie franchise

    How authors got their pen names