EarlyWord: The Publisher | Librarian Connection

Al Roker Loves WILD THING

Nora Rawlinson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:00:37 +0000

On the Today show yesterday, Al Roker declared his love for Josh Bazell’s new book, Wild Thing, (Hachette/Little,Brown/Reagan Arthur; Hachette Audio), the sequel to his debut, the darkly comic Beat the Reaper. Someone on the show may have handed Roker the book; Josh’s father, Bob Bazell is Today‘s chief medical correspondent. HBO has optioned Beat the Reaper for a [...]

French Lessons

Nora Rawlinson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:54:42 +0000

Pamela Druckerman’s Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting (Penguin, Feb.7). continues to get attention. It was featured on the Today Show yesterday and on NPR’s All Things Considered. It’s the lead book review in new issue of People (Feb 20), which gives it 3.5 of a possible 4 stars, and calls it [...]

BOURNE LEGACY Trailer Debuts

Nora Rawlinson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:16:05 +0000

The Bourne series is back, with a new director (Tony Gilroy, who wrote the screenplays for the first three movies) and a new star (Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker). The first trailer appeared yesterday and fans of the originals, starring Matt Damon and directed by Paul Greengrass, have their knives drawn. The original movies were loosely [...]

FANCY NANCY to Make Film Debut

Nora Rawlinson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:20:59 +0000

On the heels of the arrival of the latest in the Fancy Nancy series yesterday, comes the news that Tina Fey is in talks to join Shawn Levy in producing a live-action movie based on the series, for Fox. Levy directed Fey in Date Night. He’s also had experience with family fare as director of the [...]

Trailer for HBO’s Hemingway Biopic

Nora Rawlinson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:39:17 +0000

The first trailer for HBO’s Hemingway and Gellhorn just appeared on line (the YouTube version was quickly yanked, we don’t know how long the one we nabbed will be available. If it disappears, try linking to FilmOFillia). The film stars Clive Owen as Hemingway, Nicole Kidman as Martha Gellhorn, with David Strathairn as John Dos [...]

Holds Alert: THE SCIENCE OF YOGA

Nora Rawlinson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:09:54 +0000

William J. Broad’s article, “How Yoga Can Wreck your Body,” published in the New York Times on Jan. 5 brought protests from the yoga community . Broad appeared on Fresh Air yesterday to talk about his less sensationally-titled new book, The Science of Yoga, which looks at both the risks and rewards of the practice. Libraries [...]

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Black Inventors

Nora Rawlinson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:47:29 +0000

A very tall man sat on The View’s couch yesterday. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar appeared on the show to talk about his new book, What Color Is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors (Candlewick, Jan 3). The book is currently at#26 and rising on Amazon sales rankings. ——————————————————————————– What Color Is My World?: The Lost [...]

THE AGE OF MIRACLES To Movies

Nora Rawlinson — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:18:32 +0000

One of the buzz titles at Midwinter in Dallas, The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker(Random House, June), has been optioned by River Road Entertainment. Published as an adult title, this apocalyptic novel envisions what would happen if the earth’s rotation began to slow down. It features an 11-year-old heroine and is expected to [...]

“Shocking” Memoir on the Rise

Nora Rawlinson — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:28:32 +0000

After the New York Post broke the embargo on Mimi Alford’s memoir about her 18-month long affair with JFK, Once Upon a Secret, news shows are busily promoting their upcoming interviews with the author. The women of The View discussed why they find the book so shocking (Barbara Walters calls it “particularly sleasy”); Alford will appear on that show on [...]

WW II Memories

Nora Rawlinson — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:54:33 +0000

We often write about dramatic sales rises on Amazon, but this may be the biggest jump we’ve ever seen. World War II Remembered, a book of 56 recollections by “the greatest generation,” published by Kendal at Hanover, a retirement community in New Hampshire, rose over 6.6 million percent (to #6 from #396,999) because of a [...]

THE LORAX Wins the Super Bowl

Nora Rawlinson — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:13:28 +0000

The Super Bowl movie trailer that most increased book sales may be The Lorax. Dr. Seuss’s 1971 book rose to to #108 from #287 after the spot aired. In addition to the original book, Random House has released a series of tie-ins, including a pop-up and two titles in the ”Step into Reading” series. It’s difficult [...]

Now FRENCH Parents Are Superior

Nora Rawlinson — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:18:00 +0000

Anyone remember when we were urged to call French fries “liberty fries”? How quickly things change; now it seems everything French is superior. French women don’t get fat and they’re better parents, according to a new book, Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting (Penguin, Feb.7). An article in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, [...]

New Title Radar: Feb 6 – 12

Charlotte Abbott — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:28:03 +0000

This week, contemporary short story masters Nathan Englander and Dan Chaon return, while Josh Bazell delivers the sequel to his breakout debut. Usual suspects include Lisa Gardner, Vince Flynn, J.A. Jance and YA author Sara Shepard. Our major title to watch details the life of a slum in Mumbai by Katherine Boo. In nonfiction, historian James Simon [...]

The New York Post Reveals New Memoir about Affair with JFK

Nora Rawlinson — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:32:24 +0000

Calling JFK a “horndog” for seducing a 19-year-old intern, the New York Post quotes at length from an embargoed memoir which will be published on Wednesday. The story says the Post obtained a copy from a Manhattan bookstore. The news propelled the book to #71 on Amazon sales rankings; libraries are showing 1:1 holds on moderate [...]

BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS, First PEOPLE Pick of 2012

Nora Rawlinson — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:57:50 +0000

We’ve said it before; we think the book about a Mumbai slum, Behind the Beautiful Forevers is going to the the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks of 2012 (meaning, a book about a subject that may not immediately sound appealing, but garners great press attention, is an instant best seller, hanging on for months, going [...]

Holds Alert: THE END OF ILLNESS

Nora Rawlinson — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:16:49 +0000

David Angus’ book, The End of Illness, hardly needs more attention. It’s been at #1 on the NYT Hardcover Advice & Misc. best seller list for the last two weeks. Several features on ABC News in mid-January, sent it to the top ten on Amazon for a week. It settled back down in to the 100′s, [...]

Viola Davis Signed for ENDERS GAME

Nora Rawlinson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:08:20 +0000

SAG Best Actress Award winner (and Oscar nominee), Viola Davis has been signed for two book-to-movie projects; Beautiful Creatures (see previous story) and the movie based on Orson Scott Card’s sci fi classic, Ender’s Game. The movie already has a strong cast, with rising young actors Asa Butterfield (Hugo) and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) as well [...]

What Took Them So Long?

Nora Rawlinson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:06:21 +0000

Fox has acquired John Green’s new book and #1 NYT Best Seller, The Fault in Our Stars (Dutton; Brilliance Audio). Variety reports that Twilight producers Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen have signed on to do the adaptation. John just wrapped a 17-city tour for the book. He talks about how it felt, below.

We Take It Back

Nora Rawlinson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:44:32 +0000

Technically, it’s true, as we reported earlier, that a Hunger Games teaser won’t air during the Super Bowl — however, one will appear during the pregame show. Trying to stay current with this is dizzying. A teaser for the teaser appeared on Entertainment Tonight, briefly on the Web before it was yanked by the studio. As of [...]

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES Moves Closer to Screen

Nora Rawlinson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:25:42 +0000

Finally, an answer for all the teens who have been anxiously awaiting news about the film version of Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Hachette/LBYR, 2009). Movie news sources, including Entertainment Weekly‘s blog, report that it now has financing from Warner Bros. and the first cast member has been named, Oscar nominee, Viola Davis. [...]

Random House Ebooks Still Available to Libraries

Nora Rawlinson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:40:01 +0000

Top executives from ALA visited New York publishers this week to present the case for making ebooks available for library lending. When librarians found out that Random House had asked to be included, fears grew that the one house that has stood firm in making their titles available was about to change that policy. The [...]

New GAME CHANGE Trailer

Nora Rawlinson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:00:38 +0000

The second trailer for HBO’s Game Change, based on the book by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin (Harper), has just been released, giving us a longer look at Julianne Moore’s portrayal of Sarah Palin. The movie debuts on cable March 10. It also stars Woody Harrelson as campaign strategist Steve Schmidt and Ed Harris as John McCain. [...]

BEA Gearing Up

Nora Rawlinson — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:02:31 +0000

Book Expo announces the first speaker for the Book & Author events; Michael Chabon will be featured on Thursday, June 7 at the Book and Author Breakfast. His next book is Telegraph Avenue (HarperCollins, 9780061493348, on sale 9/11/12). More author announcements will be coming soon.

Newbery/Caldecott Titles Now NYT Best Sellers

Nora Rawlinson — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:07:10 +0000

The effect of the Newbery and Caldecott awards on book sales is seen in the Feb 12 NYT Best Seller list; both the medalists and one of the honor books make their debuts. Sales are for the week ending Saturday, January 28, the week of the awards, which were announced that Monday. NYT Children’s Picture [...]

Be a Book Giver — Extended Deadline

Nora Rawlinson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:20:44 +0000

Good news — the deadline to apply to give out books on World Book Night, Monday, April 23rd, has been extended. Organizer Carl Lennertz says they’ve received hundreds of applications, with every state, city and town covered, but “the more the merrier” and he’s heard there are still people out there who want to be [...]