EarlyWord: The Publisher | Librarian Connection

That Was Then

Nora Rawlinson — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:56:25 +0000

Back in 2008, when EarlyWord was in its infancy, we ran this photo from a BEA ’08 booth display. It was for a book that was the first in a planned trilogy, coming out in the fall with big hopes and an announced 100,000 copy print run (doubled after the reactions at BEA). There was [...]

Hawking Challenges Newton

Nora Rawlinson — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:13:09 +0000

Sir Isaac Newton believed that the universe could not have come out of chaos; it had to be designed by God. In his new book, The Grand Design, physicist Stephen Hawking says, “The Universe can and will create itself from nothing.” The book, which doesn’t release until next week, is already being blasted by religious [...]

Kids’ Comics

Robin Brenner — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:51:05 +0000

Wondering why Dav Pilkey’s Adventures of Ook and Gluk hasn’t appeared on the NYT Children’s best seller lists? It’s not going to, because it’s on the Graphic Books list, where it’s been in the top spot for two weeks. It’s a bit of an oddity on that list; not only is it the only title [...]

Blair’s JOURNEY

Nora Rawlinson — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:26:39 +0000

Today’s news is all over the release of Tony Blair’s book; interviews with him were aired on NPR’s Morning Edition as well as Good Morning America. The L.A. Times reviewer finds Blair unusually frank. He gets kudos for writing the book himself, because “…a professional collaborator almost certainly would have manicured [that frankness] away, along with [...]

It’s A BOOK

Nora Rawlinson — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:11:30 +0000

Craig Ferguson satirizes our current obsession with electronic gadgets in the intro. to his interview with Laura Lippman on The Late Late Show. Lippman, a librarian’s daughter, is showing her support for libraries by running a why-I-love-my-library essay contest; the winner will get a visit from Lippman to his or her favorite library (deadline, 9/30/10). [...]

Skeletons on the Zahara to Movies

Nora Rawlinson — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:57:31 +0000

The best-selling historical adventure story about a grueling 1815 desert trek, Skeletons on the Zahara, by Dean King (Little, Brown, 2004), is being adapted as a screenplay, according to the movie news site, Deadline. Don’t hold your breath, however, Deadline also notes that the screen writer, Ronan Bennett, has many other projects on his plate.

Oprah’s Book Club Back in Session

Nora Rawlinson — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:37:19 +0000

Consider it her parting gift to the book business; in the final season of her show, Oprah is bringing back the Book Club. Macmillan has alerted accounts that the announcement will be made on Sept. 17th, which is also the book’s on sale date (that’s the date for the edition with the official sticker; the book [...]

Popular Books = Popular Movies?

Nora Rawlinson — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:12:09 +0000

Carolyn Kellogg examines whether a book’s popularity translates to box office success on the LA Times Jacket Copy blog, in response to Deadline‘s Mike Fleming’s post theorizing that the success of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy bodes well for the English-language film version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Kellogg says not so fast; the [...]

SKIPPY Welcomed

Nora Rawlinson — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:30:46 +0000

One of the titles on our Watch List for this week, Skippy Dies, arrives in the US after being a hit in Britain. It receives a warm welcome from the Washington Post, which says, If killing your protagonist with more than 600 pages to go sounds audacious, it’s nothing compared with the literary feats Murray pulls [...]

EarlyWord Sponsor — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:25:05 +0000

DREAMING IN CHINESE

Nora Rawlinson — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:04:58 +0000

According to the cliché, you’ll know you’ve mastered a language when you begin dreaming in it. Deborah Fallows tells NPR’s All Things Considered that, despite years of study, Chinese Mandarin only entered her dreams in the form of “dictionary dreams,” where she desperately tried to find the words she needed. In her book, Dreaming in Chinese, [...]

Prostate Snatchers

Nora Rawlinson — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:39:37 +0000

We can’t help but cringe at the title of a new book that criticizes current treatments for prostate cancer; Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers. It’s been rising on Amazons sales rankings (currently at #207, from #28,021 yesterday), based on coverage in the New York Times Well Column on Monday. The book’s authors point out that only 1 [...]

BookFest @ Bank Street

Lisa Von Drasek — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:54:10 +0000

Registration is now open for this year’s BookFest, which I am proud to say is being hosted by Bank Street College of Education, where I am the Coordinator of School Services and Children’s Librarian. The event, which is designed for adults, will take place on Saturday, Oct. 30 and features a keynote address by Laurie Halse Anderson, [...]

Meghan McCain on Palin “Drama”

Nora Rawlinson — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:13:24 +0000

In her new book, Dirty Sexy Politics, launching today, Meghan McCain says that Sarah Palin brought “drama, stress, complications, panic and loads of uncertainty” to her father’s presidential campaign. She kicked off her media blitz with George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America today. A clearly smitten Stephanopoulos says the book is “…sassy, it is saucy and [...]

A Happy Family

Nora Rawlinson — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:42:23 +0000

A memoir by someone who actually likes his family? As Carolyn See points out in The Washington Post, this is so rare that it’s “…close to miraculous. If a person wants to write about his youth and his parents, it’s usually because he has scores to settle.” which is just one of the reasons why [...]

EarlyWord Sponsor — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:30:10 +0000

Freedom vs. Mockingjay

Nora Rawlinson — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:31:55 +0000

According to holds, Mockingjay is the clear winner over Freedom with library users. In four large library systems, Mockingjay is showing 3,114 holds on 630 hardcover copies (we’re not counting the large type or the audio editions), a full week after publication, while Freedom shows 1,550 on 383 copies on the day of publication.

It’s Franzenfreude Day

Nora Rawlinson — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:20:28 +0000

For an author leery of publicity (he famously turned down an invitation from Oprah), Jonathan Franzen is already in the middle of a maelstrom for his book that is just releasing today. New reviews (yes, there are a few outlets that have held off until pub day) begin with an obligatory rundown of the Time [...]

Temple Grandin at the Emmies

Nora Rawlinson — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:15:06 +0000

HBO’s biopic about Temple Grandin, which starred Clare Danes, won five Emmies last night, causing several news outlets to wonder, ‘Temple Grandin’ wins big at Emmys. But who is she? (Entertainment Weekly). Grandin made an impression at the event, according to the L.A. Times, Attired in red and black rodeo gear, Grandin herself became a [...]

EarlyWord Sponsor — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:00:19 +0000

DEBT-FREE U

Nora Rawlinson — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:56:42 +0000

No wonder it’s the number one title on Amazon in the College and University category, Debt-Free U ‘s subtitle is a sentence any parent would love to hear from their kid, “How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents.” The author was on the Today Show this [...]

Sic Transit…

Nora Rawlinson — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:00:58 +0000

How quickly one goes from literary darling to Jonathan Franzen, the Writer We Love to Hate (Newsweek, 8/26).

This Week’s Movie Tie-ins

Nora Rawlinson — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:42:24 +0000

Several tie-ins to upcoming movies, and a heavily-promoted HBO series, are being released this week (See below, in order by movie release date). For more upcoming movies with tie-ins, check out Upcoming — with Tie-ins listings. …………………………. SEPT 15, 2010, Limited Movie Title: Never Let Me Go Director: Mark Romanek Starring: Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Charlotte [...]

JULIET Finds a Few Romeos

Nora Rawlinson — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:17:12 +0000

While the first consumer review for Ballantine’s major debut novel, Juliet by Anne Fortier, was not promising (Entertainment Weekly gave it a B-), the current issue of USA Today pronounces the book “..kind of fun, careening back and forth between the 14th and 21st centuries” although the plot, about a contemporary woman who goes to Siena [...]

TIGER Burning Bright

Nora Rawlinson — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:43:55 +0000

Knopf’s major nonfiction title of the season, The Tiger by John Vaillant received several stellar reviews over the weekend. About a rare man-eating tiger (the book claims that he was actually a premeditated killer) in a remote area of Siberia, the book is likely to receive more media attention in the upcoming week. Several libraries are [...]